Reproduction of this coupon is expressly prohibited

September 1, 2006 3:17 PM

I am curious about the legality and feasability of starting a website/database where people just put in the barcode numbers of coupons to share them.

It seems like grocery stores only look at the barcode of a coupon so it seems workable from the technology side. It would solve the problem of finding coupons for items you actually want to buy and would buy anyway and it would just be really cool.

Now I started looking at some coupons and the fine print does say "reproduction of this coupon is expressly prohibited". But I figure it's still worth asking, perhaps it's a prohibition they can't enforce? Is there a law that says I can't reproduce a coupon?

posted by GregX3 to technology (14 comments total)

They have copyright on the coupon. Copyright infringement in this country carries INSANE penalties. Anywhere in the US, it would inadvisable to attempt this.

It might be doable in a free country, but not the US.
posted by Malor at 3:26 PM on September 1, 2006

Just for the sake of argument (and legal cluelessness), is reprinting the barcode the same thing as reprinting the coupon? Would the same penalties apply? Seems like a gray area.
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:29 PM on September 1, 2006

There was a big fuss made about this about three years ago when all of a sudden it became a fad to print your own coupon for a free pint of haagen-dazs. Because of that incident, lots of stores won't take self-printed coupons at all, much less ones that aren't "official" looking.
posted by dmd at 4:02 PM on September 1, 2006

dmd, you raise a good point except that now the rise of self-checkouts brings these stores again back to only using the barcode.
posted by GregX3 at 4:19 PM on September 1, 2006

Grocery stores don't look at only the bar code. The cash register might look at the bar code, but the cashier looks at the piece of paper the barcode is on, and you have to convince the cashier that that blank piece of paper save for a bar code is a coupon, and that scanning it won't get the cashier in trouble.
posted by mendel at 4:20 PM on September 1, 2006

malor, I would only be printing the barcode. Can a barcode really be copyrighted? That's a very interesting legal question. Is 11 numeric digits considered a copyrightable work?
posted by GregX3 at 4:20 PM on September 1, 2006

Is this what you had in mind?
posted by Brian James at 4:22 PM on September 1, 2006

Brian James,

That is sort of it. The key differences for my proposed site is that it would be user driven, users upload run of the mill newspaper type coupons (without anyone's permission) and people can use any coupons they want without having to do "coupon clipping"
posted by GregX3 at 4:29 PM on September 1, 2006

"upload" in my last post is the wrong word. You would either type or scan in the barcode. I want it only to be barcode based.
posted by GregX3 at 4:30 PM on September 1, 2006

Here's another twist on the idea (not that I've ruled out the original idea just yet):

I add the ability for my grocery list software to store coupons via just scanning or typing in the barcode. Then it prints out those coupon barcodes right on your grocery list. That would be insanely convientient for me. No more saving coupons, no more carrying them seperately, etc.

Legally, what if my grocery list required users to agree to destroy the original after entering it. Would I technically no longer be "reproducing"??
posted by GregX3 at 4:32 PM on September 1, 2006

Barcodes are certainly not copyrightable. But such a scheme may be tantamount to larceny since manufacturer's coupons stipulate that they have an actual cash value, usually 1/100 of a cent. I suppose if you did this on a widespread scale, you could trigger the minimum jurisdictional amount.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 6:53 PM on September 1, 2006

So it sounds like at the very least I'd have to talk to a lawyer if I wanted to do this. What kind of law does this fall under? What kind of lawyer would know about this area?

... A coupon lawyer?? ha ha jk ... hopefully that's not a real field of law.
posted by GregX3 at 7:02 PM on September 1, 2006

If you look at the fine print of a lot of grocery coupons, it says something along the lines of "retailer must return coupon to manufacturer." The stores have to give the companies who issued the coupons the actual documents, I think to prevent fraud or something. So while I like your idea, I think one needs more than the barcode (at some point in the chain, at least) to use a coupon. Perhaps it would work with store-issued coupons?
posted by chickletworks at 8:37 PM on September 1, 2006

Thanks everyone. I suppose this idea is legally risky then. I suppose I'll just file it away in my businesses-to-start-when-I-can-afford-lawsuits file.
posted by GregX3 at 11:06 PM on September 1, 2006