MyDoorsAreOpen
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
- Messages
- 8,549
In the US, what exactly is the legal weight of the phrase 'DO NOT COPY' being stamped on a door key? Who puts that stamp there? Who has the authority to adorn a key with this phrase? Is there any sort of government record of keys (and the doors and institutions they belong to) bearing this stamp?
Let's say someone came into possession of a key that said 'DO NOT COPY', took it anonymously to a business that made keys, and made it clear that he wanted to purchase a copy. Who is breaking the law, the customer, the business owner, both, or neither?
Do LEOs in the US keep an active watch on key copying businesses to make sure this kind of thing gets punished right after the act, or is this generally something that gets punished as an add-on to another crime (such as, for example, trespassing using a copied key)?
If the latter, then I'd bet this key imprint usually becomes an issue in civil suits rather than criminal ones, and gets held against the copier as tantamount to a broken contract or unheeded warning. I doubt an employee suing for job reinstatement would win much sympathy from a judge who knew he possessed a copy of a key issued by the employer that said 'DO NOT COPY'.
But is the copying and possession of a key bearing this imprint, even if it's never used, itself a criminal offense?
Let's say someone came into possession of a key that said 'DO NOT COPY', took it anonymously to a business that made keys, and made it clear that he wanted to purchase a copy. Who is breaking the law, the customer, the business owner, both, or neither?
Do LEOs in the US keep an active watch on key copying businesses to make sure this kind of thing gets punished right after the act, or is this generally something that gets punished as an add-on to another crime (such as, for example, trespassing using a copied key)?
If the latter, then I'd bet this key imprint usually becomes an issue in civil suits rather than criminal ones, and gets held against the copier as tantamount to a broken contract or unheeded warning. I doubt an employee suing for job reinstatement would win much sympathy from a judge who knew he possessed a copy of a key issued by the employer that said 'DO NOT COPY'.
But is the copying and possession of a key bearing this imprint, even if it's never used, itself a criminal offense?