Here it goes again... This is essentially a rehashing of the
Duplication Prohibited - do you agree? thread resulting from a slightly different initiating question...
You have to take care to ensure that any key you duplicate is not protected by any federal, state, county or city/town code, law or ordinance which protects keys marked in a certain way from being duplicated... There are federal laws protecting the postal service "Arrow" keys which operate the postal service access on mail containers and distribution boxes, USPS Post Office Box keys are also protected, as are any keys marked "U.S. Property - Do Not Duplicate" which operate locks at federally owned facilities and these are the ONLY keys protected on a national basis... Some states have laws protecting keys to state property like large institutional facilities and colleges/universities and such keys will be marked "State Property - Do Not Duplicate" so you should familiarize yourself with your market area and the location of nearby state facilities if your state has such a law... Counties and local governments can establish such protections too, NYC and LA are the only two places I am aware of that have a blanket ban on copying keys generically marked "Do Not Duplicate" within the city limits...
Those state and local rules are easily avoidable, to obtain a duplicate copy of a "Do Not Duplicate" key in such a locality a person merely needs to cross a jurisdictional border where the state or local law no longer applies... Therefore the only keys truly protected by such laws are the keys protected at the federal level...
Locksmiths often have contractual obligations that they need to meet with the lock manufacturers for high security key duplication where every key blank the locksmith (dealer) possesses must be properly accounted for... Such lock manufacturers will have the dealer issue an identification instrument (usually an imprint card with an ID number on it) for each unique key bitting code which has to be presented at the dealer to obtain additional duplicates of high security keys covered under the dealer/manufacturer contract agreement...
darkstar614 wrote:If a key says anything about not copying it, and you Do copy it, the owner of the institution, whatever it may be can legally require you to pay for a total rekey of the facility. This happened to an ex boss of mine once in (around) 1995 in Ohio.
To address this comment, I would ask for some reference to a state law which applies to such a situation... That sounds like it was a breach of a contractual agreement somewhere rather than an enforcement action of a governmental law or code... Such agreements are usually made between key holder and key issuer and the key holder must sign an agreement wherein they agree to pay for the costs of rekeying if they lose their key or obtain unauthorized duplicate copies of said key which breach the security of the facility...
Some locksmiths fall into a religious/dogmatic belief that they should establish a blanket policy to require a "letter of authorization" for each and every key marked "Do Not Duplicate" a customer walks into their location requesting a copy of... I think that this is a bad decision to make as it could be establishing at their own choice to do so, a "duty of care" to ensure that such "instruments of authorization" they require customers to produce are actually VALID and that the company identified in the letter actually owns the key or keys it is accompanying and that the individual who has signed the letter is indeed authorized to make such contractual statements and declarations on behalf of the company... I recommend only requiring such letters of authorization for keying systems a locksmith shop has established and has information stipulated in a contractual agreement about who is and isn't authorized to permit agents of the company to obtain duplicate keys... Otherwise it is very prudent to ONLY follow the exact procedures established by the high security lock manufacturers for the specific types of keys in question, as otherwise you may be imposing a "duty to care" upon yourself and your company that would otherwise not exist...
WolfSpring: I wish you the best of luck in your new business endeavors if you decide to pursue them...
~~ Evan
