Dear all, Can anyone shed any light on to what type of legislation the above statement is trying to circumnavigate re-the replication of testamurs from bona fide institutions? I know John Bear has mentioned previously that a sticker could be peeled off of his Harvard degree when he bought it, and this statement appears on many of the replica testamur provider's websites. Is it to try and avoid copyright infringement? Any details to legislation, relevance to law etc would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, George
It's because, in part, aside from any discussion or concern about whether or not the issuer is a degree mill or diploma mill, many states have authenticity laws regarding the document itself -- ostensibly as an (thus far unsuccessful) attempt to deal with diploma mills, generally, and the documents they produce, in particular. Such a law, simply by way of example, would be California (Education) Code, Sections §§ 32380 through 32385: 32380. As used in this article: (a) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, firm, or public board, agency, or entity. (b) "Prepare" means to put into condition for intended use. (c) "Degree" means any "academic degree" or "honorary degree" or title of any designation, mark, appellation, series of letters or words such as, but not limited to, associate, bachelor, master, doctor, or fellow which signifies, purports, or is generally taken to signify satisfactory completion of the requirements of an academic, educational, technological, or professional program of study or is an honorary title conferred for recognition of some meritorious achievement. (d) "Diploma" means any diploma, certificate, transcript, document, or other writing in any language other than a degree representing that an individual has completed any course of study. 32381. Any person who prepares, manufactures, or prints, or who offers to prepare, manufacture, or print, for a fee or other compensation, any document purporting to be a degree or diploma without written authorization to do so from the school authority shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. As used in this section, "school authority" means any of the following: (a) A governing board of a school district that issued or reissued the degree or diploma, as the case may be. (b) A private school that issued or reissued the degree or diploma, as the case may be. (c) Any public or private college, university, or other institution of higher learning that issued or reissued the degree or diploma, as the case may be. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from reproducing, or having reproduced, for his personal use a degree or diploma issued to him by a school authority. 32382. No person shall: (a) Sell, barter, offer to sell or barter, or conspire to sell or barter, any diploma or degree as defined in this article. (b) Buy, obtain by barter, attempt to buy or obtain by barter, or conspire to obtain by barter or buy, any diploma or degree. (c) Use in connection with any business, trade, profession, or occupation, or attempt to use in connection with any business, trade, profession or occupation, or conspire to use in connection with any business, trade, profession or occupation, any degree or diploma, which has been purchased, obtained by barter, faudulently or illegally issued, illegally obtained, counterfeited, materially altered, or found. (d) Use in connection with a business, trade, profession, or occupation, or give or receive, any degree or diploma which has been purchased, obtained by barter, fraudulently or illegally issued, illegally obtained, counterfeited, materially altered, or found. (e) Attempt to use in connection with a business, trade, profession, or occupation, or attempt to give or receive, any degree or diploma, which has been purchased, obtained by barter, fraudulently or illegally issued, illegally obtained, counterfeited, materially altered, or found. (f) Conspire to use in connection with a business, trade, profession, or occupation, or conspire to give or receive, any diploma or degree evidencing the undertaking or completion of any course of study or scholastic achievement attained if, in fact, such course of study has not been undertaken nor completed or if such scholastic achievement has not been attained. 32383. Any person willfully violating any provision of Section 32382 is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by both such fine and imprisonment. 32384. Any court of competent jurisdiction is hereby authorized to grant such relief as is necessary to enforce the provisions of this article, including the issuance of an injunction. 32385. Actions for injunction under the provisions of this article may be brought in the name of the people of the State of California upon their own complaint or upon the complaint of any person, or in the name of any authorized public or private school, college, university, or other authorized institution of learning, acting on its own behalf or the general public. among others. In some states it might even be criminal fraud. There are also diploma mill operators who have been sued for misrepresentation, or fraud as a tort, or any of a number of other similar things. Some diploma mill operators do it simply to keep their hosting providers from killing their web site accounts once they get complained about. Declaring that what they do is all in fun, or is just "good, clean fun" (as I saw one of them call it some years back), by characterizing it as intended for purely novelty purposes provides them with, they believe, a hedge against such consequences. Whether or not it would actually work to protect the diploma mill operator from civil or criminal liability if someone in, for example, an attorney general's office's consumer protection division somewhere actually cared enough to pursue it is another matter altogether. Hey... the very same sort of disclaimer works for knuckleheads who make fake police badges, doesn't it? Of course, they tend to sweeten the pie by referring to badge buyers who aren't in law enforcement as "collectors." Tons of such knuckleheaded companies exist. In fact, I did the following Google search: +badge +police +novelty and got 23,500 hits, beginning with this search results page. If that doesn't make the hair stand-up on the back of your neck, nothing will! [sigh] They're all idiots.
You can buy police badges at a Web site called www.clumsycrooks.com? Kinda puts perspective on things, don't it? marilynd
quote Oh my, oh my! This is scary indeed! Should not all such sites be summarily illegal to advertise, much less, create, own, operate or patronize? I mean, what can be more serious than messing with insignia of public safety and police protection? Can FBI, Secret Service, US presidential badges, seals or symbols, etc., also be "legally" designed, bought and sold in the name of "free enterprise?" Come to think of it, I am afraid that, in my 9/11-induced state of permanent paranoia, I do not care to know the answer to the question. Thanks.
Greg: My apologies to you. The quote I used in the above post was posted by you, not marilynd, as I incorrectly stated. Mea culpa. Thanks.
