Tooeygeotrashed

I am pleased to announce that my first auction for the Japanese Red Cross is listed, item number 190521560122.

Having reached my target sponsorship for Macmillan Cancer support I am now raising funds for those affected by these events with the few geocoins I have left, however, I have already received support for this cause from some Mystery Coiners and hope to get them listed in a week or so. Like Jackalgirl I am not sure at the moment how best to divert funds but will be looking into Red Cross and appeals being made in the UK.

The good news is - I have, along with the help and support of many people, reached my sponsorship target. However, as I am sure you will all be aware, today a massive earthquake and subsequent Tsunami struck Japan and other countries around the Pacific basin. Because of this I intend to now auction all remaining coins, with the exception of a few gifts that I have promised to people, the proceeds of which will be sent to relief agencies working to help those affected. Thank you to everyone that joined in to help me reach my total, it is very much appreciated. My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this huge crisis. Kind of puts things into perspective doesn't it.

Wow - what a fantastic response, and I am still getting offers of coins, thank you all so much. Selling off my collection is taking longer than expected !! All the support is very much appreciated. Thank you again.

Due to the generosity of Geocachers, and in particular Geocoin enthusiasts I have managed to raise in excess of £1200 for Macmillan Cancer Research. I am currently selling the remainder of my coins and hope that in doing so I shall reach my sponsorship target of £3700 which I am raising in order to participate in a sponsored trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu this May. More details can be seen at justgiving.com/JanCuthbertson. I have a couple of fund raising events still to go and only have another £376 to go to reach my target. Once that has been achieved I will give away any remaining coins. If you would like to be a recipient or would like to nominate someone else to receive a coin please email me with details through my profile. A big thank you to all those Geocoin enthusiasts who have generously donated coins for this cause, it is very much appreciated.

Did you win this item? or do you know who did? I have found the original box it came in together with the instruction manual, so if you wanted them I am more than happy to send them on. Please email me through my profile. Thanks

Awesome, congratulations - nice to know that the good stuff still happens around here.

What a nice thing to do and congratulations on all your finds too

I don't think I have alienated anyone. I made a generalization in one post that has been corrected. I'm simply saying that the art to which mould/dies were created to make certain geocoins was not paid for, but then also used time and time again for personal financial gain. That's what is being addressed. Have a good day. ~J You may not think it - but the fact is you have, plain and simple, and I don't understand the part where you say you made a generalization in one post - in my eyes it was pretty much to the point.

Not to debate, which I won't, but please tell this to the countless designs with Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Smurfs, other licensed characters, etc. And, tell it to Groundspeak who approves the designs. If Im asked to do a personal coin, or a design, I'll take the work. I, like everyone else, need work to get paid, and will absolutely do what Im asked. There are so many coins out there 'inspired by' or likewise, that if I was to list them all, and the designers who did them - this post would be endlessly scrolling. I just refuse to let this debate get personal. I don't like ugliness, and will refrain from getting involved. The coin that brought it up - the Tranq - does not apply - it was literally built from thin air. Not inspired by, not anything. =) If I wanted to build a house and employed a professional architect, I would hope and expect that the Architect would give me professoinal advice, that's what he is paid to do ! If I requested an architectural feature that just isn't going to work then I would expect to receive advice accordingly, and forego the feature I desired and not have the architect incorporate it into the plans. If I wanted to have a coin designed and minted and went to a professional designer I would expect the same professionalism - not someone who would absolutely do what I asked if it wasn't going to be in my best interests. Using copyrighted material in geocoins may have been done time and again, it doesn't make it right and it certainly doesn't make it acceptable, in any circumstances.

Many thanks for the clarification, just a pity it was not made clear in the first instance. I detect a whole heap of back tracking here - I just took another look at the original post, copied below, note the capitalisation. QUOTE(GeocoinGuy @ May 24 2010, 11:46 AM) This will constitute my final post in this thread. For ALL to heed: ANYONE attempting to sell TRANQUILITY on eBay from this point forward will be reported as an intellectual property right violation. Questions* can be directed to the law firm of: Hutchinson, Cox, Coons, DuPriest, Orr & Sherlock, PC John Cox 200 Forum Building 777 High Street Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541) 686-9160 *not that they will talk to you about it. ~J

It has nothing to do with opinion, it has to do with the law. Are we not entitled to an opinion on the law? This happened to me with the GeoSmurfz coin. It doesn't matter how or if I bought it. If it is considered contraband or counterfeit then it can be sold on the open market. Just because I bought it doesn't make it ok that I can sell it. Did that answer your question or did you have something more specific? Don't you mean it can't be sold? My understanding is that the GeoSmurfz coin contained an image of a worldwide recognised copyrighted brand, I can fully appreciate why that would be a breach of copyright. In any event GCG has clarified his other post which makes the picture much clearer now, although it does leave me wondering why it was made at this particular point in time.

Many thanks for the clarification, just a pity it was not made clear in the first instance.

Since this matter was raised in another thread and cannot be discussed there without the risk of having the thread closed, what is your opinion on Intellectual Property Rights on coins? If I buy a coin or have traded for a coin is it not my right to sell it without fear of becoming entangled in legal proceedings?

I agree whole heartedly.

That's because Honor Coins is not a Groundspeak approved vendor. The list is in the pinned Geocoin policy thread at the top of these forums. A somewhat fatuous statement - the vast majority of coins are manufactured in China - and I know of no Chinese manufacturer that is on the approved vendors list.

Honor Coins produce within the USA. The following is taken directly from their website - they do put work out to China, but would not do so if the customer specifically wants their coins produced in America, the dies fees are high, it may be possible to offset some of that cost against the shipping fees from China and hopefully they could come up with a realistic price for you. It has come to our attention that there are two major coin companies proclaiming that their coins are made in the United States. Although there a few mints here in the USA that make challenge coins, the prices are well above most military budgets. We do have the ability to make coins in the US and do so whenever budgets allow, but most customers can't afford the $500-$1000 per side die fee or the $.52 per color/per side charge. If you are working with a company and they claim to have their coins made in the USA and they are offering FREE DIE FEES or die fees well below what I listed above... then you are being misled. I have personally worked for a coin company who did this (and still does) and the day I found out was the day I quit and started my own company. Please do some research into these claims before you make a decision based solely on the claim that they are made here in the USA. Where you get your coins made is an important decision and I would hate for you to get junk coins when you are expecting high quality, so do yourself a favor and do the research! If a sales rep claims that the coins are made in the US, ask this simple question... "Which mint is making the coin?" If they won't tell you then there is something wrong. I am a distributor for two American mints and if you plan on ordering American made coins I will gladly tell you which mint will be making your coins. They deal with distributors and not directly with customers, so there is no reason why you couldn't and shouldn't know. Just ask! You can contact Dennis at honorcoins.com or just go to www.honorcoins.com where you can link to request a quote direct, they normally respond within 24 hrs.

It is a shame to see people copying coin designs, however not all instances are copies, I have seen at least three coins produced that I was thinking of doing myself, nobody saw my drawings - but the resulting coins look uncannily like the ones I had envisaged. I did design the Three Wise Monkeys coin, and now someone has produced a three coin set in the Funny Animal Series (?). Not a copy, just another design on a similar theme and there are going to be people who would rather buy the three coin set of what looks to me to be a rather simple cartoon characterisation of Three Wise Monkeys, does not appeal to me but then my coin isn't going to appeal to everyone either. I think it is quite understandable in this case to get a little hot under the collar, in my opinion it is a very poor imitation of what originally was a super coin. Since they are clearly producing this 'for profit' I think they should be a little concerned about copyright. I remember the debacle over the Scouts coin, well it could have been deliberate or it could have been coincidental, either way at the end of the day there is only one Scout Motto and it is usually presented in a similar form wherever it is produced, badges, stamps, posters whatever - the Grateful Dead image is also widely used, mostly by the Grateful Dead I would imagine. As Landsharkz say - imitation is the greatest form of flattery, I guess the only complaint then that can be made is that it is a very poor attempt at imitation !

It looks great and I would love to use it but unfortunately I do not have any of the requisite 'toys' to play.

GC&PC Night Geocaching

Only if they bothered to log the retrieve, which from my experience - when coins really go missing, i.e. 'stolen' they never get logged, the above really isn't very helpful at all, only when marking proxies for release, and even those get stolen - some folk hate proxies, either way - if you send a coin out into the world sooner or later it becomes a lose lose situation. Sadly I'm not sending any more coins out, a great hobby is one thing, throwing good money away and feeding the greed of others is just stupidity.

True, but what does it take to answer an e-mail? "Sorry, I have your coin but due to my present circumstances I will be unable to move it along any time soon" Kinda hard to do if you happen to be in a coma ! The coin has not been 'confiscated' - whoever removed it from the cache it was in is either a) not playing the game properly possibly in some sort of life crisis, like a coma or some such or just busy A short polite email might elicit a response, on the other hand it might not, and that it about all you can do, oh that and just relax and forget about it. If it does show up you can enjoy it's travels until it disappears again !

DING - or as they would say darn unda, "yer not wrong there mate"

GCXY7G - S is for Submarine