Krause Publications Challenges
Scott Publications On Rights To
The Scott Numbering System
[On specific occasions---and for reasons generally not known to the public---major philatelic news stories do not reach print in the Linn's and Stamp Collector weeklies. Here is one that will be of interest to all stamp collectors..]

In a crossfiling in the U.S. District Court of Southern Ohio dated May 5, 1998, Krause Publications (publishers of the new Krause/Minkus U.S. stamp catalog) has vigorously opposed Scott Publications in the latter's litigation against Krause for their use of the Scott catalog numbering system. In its original legal action, Scott is suing Krause, specifically, to require them to cease using their numbering system and is asking for monetary damages. Scott also asked the court for an immediate injunction requiring Krause to stop further use of the system.

Krause, however, is taking this legal challenge far more seriously than the philatelic public may have anticipated. In a 55-page brief, their May 5th crossfiling was prepared by Jacobson, Price, Holman and Stern, one of the nation's largest and most-respected specialists in patent/trademark/copyright law.

In fact, following filing of the brief, Scott's attorneys asked for, and obtained, a continuance of the date the "injunction relief" was to be heard by the federal district court. This was to have taken place the last week of July, 1998, and the decision of Judge Susan K. Dlott should be rendered before the end of the summer.

The Krause crossfiling makes for very good reading---and in effect, should eventually end up on the shelves of every competent philatelic librarian. In a far-reaching treatise on the historical implications of the Scott numbering system, the Krause brief challenges the Scott position with numerous instances and precedents where, it appears, Scott Publications (including the years when it was not owned by Amos Press) actually abandoned not only its numbering system, but failed to universally enforce its licensed usages.

Krause's brief takes the reader all the way back to the founding of the Minkus philatelic operations by Jacques Minkus in the early 1930s. It shows, time after time, Minkus's use of the Scott numbering system (without challenge by Scott) when the latter was publishing stamp price lists for his department store stamp counters all across America over a 50-year period. And on several occasions, Krause's attorneys show that Scott actually did not register the copyright for several full editions of their worldwide catalogs.

Krause further challenges Scott's position that the numbering system can be copyrighted in the first place---and contends that the system has, for many years, actually been in the public domain. To quote: "Amos Press' own conduct evidences that everyone in the stamp collecting industry considers the various stamp numbering/cataloging systems to be unprotectable and available for use by all."

Of particular note is Krause's contention that Scott may be in direct violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and that its licensing policies constitute copyright misuse.

The upshot of this legal action---which has certainly been taken to a higher plane by Krause retaining perhaps the most important copyright-specialist law firm in America---is the real possibility that Scott's longstanding position with its numbering system may be successfully challenged. Krause's attorneys have provide no fewer than 110 legal precedents and statutes to back up their case.

Interested collectors may obtain a photocopy of the various filings in this case by contacting the U.S. District Court in Dayton, Ohio. There is, of course, a nominal photocopying fee for this, but in view of the nature of these filings, they represent the concerns of all serious philatelists and dealers.