I have a key that claims "copyright" and "do not copy". I've always assumed the copyright claim was bogus, on the grounds that functional items like keys aren't within the scope of copyright law.
I figured that "do not copy" label was for the key cutting people to see and deter them from copying it. But I'm not sure if anyone really follows those labels.
I get my keys cut at a convenience store down the street. Key cutting is not exactly a sophisticated service market run by specialists. So I doubt there is much stringent ethical procedures or industry reputations to lean on.
I'm not sure if anyone really follows those labels.
You're probably right.
When people's security needs are great enough to justify paying $150+ per lock, high-end locks offer:
(a) Patented keys that the manufacturer only sells to authorized distributors (who are contractually obligated not to cut keys without a key duplication card)
(b) have complex designs that can't be cut on standard key-cutting machines and
(c) have special 'key control' pins that mean different locksmiths get incompatible locks and key blanks.
Needless to say, a sufficiently good 3D scanner & printer (or indeed a sufficiently patient person with a file and a pair of calipers) could bypass these protections.
Several years ago, I lived in an apartment with "do not copy" keys. I took one to the hardware store and they refused to copy it, so I took it home, ground out the words with a Dremel, filled the gap in with solder and polished it flat. Same store happily copied it.
If you're important enough you can get the lock makers to make you your own custom blank that they don't sell to anyone else.
I ran into this at college when trying to issue a bunch of keys to club members.
"Laser cut" keys have a second set of teeth inside one of the low spots in the blank that normal machines can't copy. Luckily, the locks that have the bar to fit the inner teeth are expensive and only important things get them so the hardest part of copying the key was convincing the guy at the hardware store that I just needed copies with the same profile and not the inner teeth.
Institutions can buy key systems where the blanks are patented, and only sold by authorized dealers to authorized buyers as part of the institutional contract. This makes it very hard to come by usable blanks. Your average locksmith won't have them.
It's a piece of metal. Even if the locksmith doesn't have the blank you can simply make your own on a copying mill. It will take a while because you'll need a fine bit to make a usable key and the registration when you flip it has to be perfect but this is absolutely doable.
The blanks that locksmiths have are an optimization in time and cost, usually not in technology, they are there so you can walk out with your new key in 5 minutes and at $10 rather than an hour or two and $200. The trick is that the blank has all the lengthwise grooves pre-cut and the copying grinder then merely has to slot the blank to the required depth and cut off any excess. This is so that some $7 / hour person can make your keys and not a trained machinist with a very expensive piece of gear.
Keys with tricks in them (magnets, embedded RFID chips, bearings, springs and so on) are a lot harder to copy than keys that are simply steel.
