Well, That's One Way To Do It

Take a look at this rather strange ebay offering:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/33-000-Prin...em236fc32e57

I first assumed this was a CD with downloadable album pages to print for one's use. After looking a bit it seems the CD is comprised of pictures of album pages- with stamps- for one to print out. You apparently don't have to buy stamps, you just print pictures of other people's collections, put them in a binder and vola- you have a collection!

Mind you there is nothing wrong with anyone doing so. It just seems odd, that's all.

Scanned Scott pages, guy live in Tennesse, sell it since a wild, how come Amos have not stop him yet ? I will be worry to purchase that stuff, what if Amos, one day ask you to pay the full price of those pages ?

He's ripped off the pix from Dr. Cheng Chang's World of Stamps website

But it says at the bottom they have full rights. It is on the internet so it must be true!

If I sell blank scott pages, it is illegal.

If I post my collection online or sell images of my collection/stamps, is it illegal too?

I think there is a fine print somewhere I suppose.

Also, can Amos track the buyers and ask them to pay full price? I didnt know that !

Btw - I saw a posting of someone from India, scanning the entire scott catalog into a DVD and selling it for 12 bucks. A very commendable effort considering the number of pages scanned.

"I saw a posting of someone from India, scanning the entire Scott catalog into a DVD and selling it for 12 bucks."

That gave me a chuckle! Thanks!

The Scott catalog was offered by Amos on CD in 2009; these legitimately show up on ebay every now and again.




If it was scanned and offered for sale I would not use the word "commendable" but rather "theft" and "unethical".

Scanning and posting your mounted stamps online is not going to give Amos any heartburn; even if you use the images to sell your stamps on ebay.

But taking money from their pocket by offering an catalog or album that directly uses (and competes) with their copyrighted material may cause them to send you a cease and desist (infringement) letter. Who knows if they are willing to spend more money on further legal actions? Obviously they would struggle to bring legal action against someone living in Kathmandu.

But putting aside the legalese; consider the ethics of it. Anyone who steals others work, or buys it knowing it is stolen, is acting unethically. How would you like to invest huge amounts of time and money in something only to have some moron use the seedy underbelly of the internet to start making money on it?
Don

I still don't get the original offer. Accepting that some won't be aware of the fact that you can view this collection for nothing online anyway, why would you want a CD of images of someone else's part-filled pages?

I can think of a very few instances of something like this being of interest. If it is an award winning collection for example. What I saw looked like run if the mill stuff. Some stamps in black mounts, also copied.

I have to wonder if this seller knows anything at all about stamp collecting.

Hey Don

When I said commendable, I was talking about the patience that guy had to do something like that even if it is unethical..

Scanning a single stamp itself is annoying. I cannot think of scanning 1000s of pages...

I have received scanned white ace pages from my friends several times, mainly to read the notes under those stamps.

No one is encouraging anything illegal here. So Relax and chill..

And we are speaking of the Western sense of ethics here. In large parts of Asia, copying is not unethical and can be perceived as respectful to the originator or simply a reasonable way to earn a living. This cultural disconnect is one reason the West has such difficulty understanding and combating perceived pervasive IP piracy or counterfeiting in China and elsewhere.

Chris