how far will they go?

[Dave Nelson]

A fellow optician here in BC has just received a loonie from a change machine that was stamped with a rather unflattering pair of thick black glasses on the QUEEN, along with the website adress for an online contact lens company. For Americans, the loonie is an informal name for Canada's $1 coin, so named for the loon on it. Defacing the Queen is indeed illegal, but how low will online companies go?

[For-Life]

until someone actually tries to stop them. These guys are the equivilant of black market scum

[edKENdance]

That's Awesome! They defaced currency and attached their name to it. You should report it.

[Jacqui]

Isn't that illegal ?? It is in the US. Does the Queen know about this ?? Someone should tell her. Maybe a note to the Governor General would help.

RAISE H--- !!!!

[For-Life]

It is, but how do you prove it?

[k12311997]

I believe and am backed by the following, it is only illegal to deface currency with fradulent intent. ever see those penny stamping machines at an amusement park? ie. ok to draw mustaches on george washington, not ok to make george look like abe and try to pass a 1 as a 5


this from

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=77334

Title 18 United States Code, Section 331

Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes,
falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of
the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current
or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States;
or

Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells,
or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the
United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced,
mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened -

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five
years, or both
----------------------------------

This statute can be found online on Cornell Law School's Legal
Information Institute website:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/331.html

[AdmiralKnight]

Which is all well and good, except that's US law, not Canadian. The Canadian law might very well be the same, but still :P

[LandLord]

I wouldn't pay it much attention. Their clever marketing trick won't help them much. In advertising, it's the message that counts, not the medium.

[k12311997]

this is a canadian money tracking website. not an enjoyable read, it is written as a conversation between a site user and a bank teller, so I didn't copy it. there are links on the page to various refrences of Canadian law regarding the subject. in a nut shell the same as US.

http://www3.telus.net/gavinlg/ww-law