Frank.Whitney@p0.f1000.n261.z1.fidonet.org (Frank Whitney) (04/24/91)
Index Number: 15133 [This is from the Spinal Injury Conference] >concerning the rubber stamp for a signature, it may not be legal and >acceptable. maybe you should check with the bank manager before you get one >made. A rubber signature stamp is legal. If you get one make sure that it is self inking that way it's much neater and you don't have to worry about carrying around a stamp pad. Many doctors and lawyers etc use them. I'm not quite sure if they are valid for things like a will or all other legal documents. Before you start using the stamp you have to go to your bank and have it put on their records as that being your signature. >And as I said to Dora Siren, what if someone steals it? I'm not quite sure about the legal ramifications of someone stealing a signature stamp. I would imagine that it would be similar to if someone stole your credit cards. You would notify all people that you have registered your stamp with. Frank. -- Via Opus Msg Kit v1.12 -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!261!1000.0!Frank.Whitney Internet: Frank.Whitney@p0.f1000.n261.z1.fidonet.org
ronald@UHUNIX.BITNET (Ronald A. Amundsonl) (05/01/91)
Index Number: 15261 There must not be ALL that much danger in using rubber stamps for signatures. The entire population of Japan does it. They call the stamp a "han". It's a little round stamp with Japanese characters on it, usually used with red ink. All official documents are "signed" with the personal stamp -- a real signature wouldn't count. The Japanese have a couple of advantages over us, though. First, they have a national registry of han designs, so the characters you pick can't match anyone else's. Second, when I asked my Japanologist friends about it, they said it would never cross a Japanese person's mind that his han might be stolen. Strange country. Very little theft. They seldom use checks, though, so a lot of the han use is to withdraw cash from banks. If an American person did start using a rubber stamp, one way to protect against theft would be to have it include some little insignia _besides_ the signature. So if one stamp got stolen, you could get another one made up, and tell your bank "The Jane Jones signature stamp with the smiley-face is no longer valid. Accept only the Jane Jones signature stamp with the doggy-wagging-its-tail." By the way, my State of Hawaii payroll checks all come with a rubber stamp signature of the State Treasurer. I'd like to get my hands on THAT sucker. Cheers, Ron Amundson