KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Amid an online storm over alleged copyright infringement in promotional posters of an upcoming stamp collection, Pos Malaysia’s stamp division appears to have disabled its Facebook account.

At the time of writing, The Malay Mail Online was unable to access the official Facebook account of Pos Malaysia’s Stamp and Philately Unit, which had last week carried the promotional posters of the “Visit Malaysia Year 2014” stamp collection.

The website of the postage stamp designer - identified as World Communications Network Resources (M) Sdn Bhd on the Pos Malaysia website - also appears to have been temporarily disabled.

When visited today, World Communications’ website now only displays a message of “Under Construction” in a yellow box covering almost the entire page, which carries a red border.

Last week when the World Communications’ website was still functioning, it contained information about the local company which was established in 1994.

Among other things, the red-themed website also carried lists of its advertising and public relations projects that were successfully carried out for both private companies and ministries or government-related bodies.

Last week, two photographers claimed that their photographs of wild birds were used in the “Visit Malaysia Year 2014” stamp series without their knowledge and consent.

Yesterday, The Malay Mail Online reported that the duo - Filipino Romy Ocon and American Con Foley - were weighing their options, including possible legal action.

But amid the furore, the entire photo album titled “Visit Malaysia Year 2014” was removed last Friday from the Stamp and Philately Unit’s Facebook account.

The photo album had featured promotional posters of new postage stamps in sets of six, with four different themes revolving around Malaysia’s birds, insects, plants and tourist spots.

An earlier Facebook post promoting the photo album was also removed last Friday, with the Stamp and Philately Unit publicly assuring a Facebook user through late-night postings that the stamp collection’s scheduled release during Stamp Week, which runs from November 13 to November 19, would not be delayed despite the allegations of plagiarism.

In the Friday postings, the unit also said it was probing the matter and hoped to settle it by today.

“At the moment no sir, we will hopefully can do this event & we are still investigating this case. Hopefully by next Monday, we will settle down this issue. TQ for your support & sorry for any inconvenience,” the unit said in the November 1 entry, also indicating in another entry that the stamp collection could be issued with some changes to the images featured.

The Malay Mail Online has yet to receive a response from Pos Malaysia over the issue but Yahoo Malaysia had last Thursday cited an unnamed Pos Malaysia officer as saying the postal services agency was not responsible for the content of the stamp series.

“Pos Malaysia only issues the stamp and does not provide the content.  The content is managed by the design company working with Tourism Malaysia,” the officer was quoted as saying by the Yahoo Newsroom, identifying the company as World Communications Network Resources (M) Sdn Bhd.

World Communications and Tourism Malaysia have yet to respond to The Malay Mail Online’s queries.