Are Bucket shops breaking the law by selling existing coats of arms?
A. In a word, yes. Coats of arms, even those of family lines that have become extinct, are protected under both international copyright laws and intellectual property laws. Bucket shops are making money by selling things that they have no legal right to sell. It’s like stealing someones jewelry and then turning around and selling it. If the decendants and/or legal holders or heirs to those arms found out that you are using them and claiming them as your own, you could find yourself on the wrong end of a civil lawsuit. Once I design and receive payment for arms that I design, the person I designed them for and their designated heirs become the legal holders the the copyright of those arms (I keep only the rights detailed in the Heraldry copyright release and Graphic Design copyright release).
