I think there might be a couple of advantages to the American College, copyright proof being one of them, as Downunder Kilt pointed out.

Also, I believe they offer assistance in design and can produce a "grant of arms" document with an artist's rendering of the arms. (Since they do not grant the arms, it's not really a grant, but it would be a nice document, I think.) Designing and producing a blazon is not for the unschooled, this I know. Most of us would end up with something garish that looks like a school boy's product.

I believe South Africa also will grant arms to about anyone; it's likely a money maker for them (it likely is for any agency performing the function), and I suppose it would be more official since it comes from a government. There's likely a snob factor in having a government agency grant the arms, I think (no offense intended), but since I am an American through and through, I'm not sure it is really any better in reality than the American College. The point of arms is to distinguish oneself, and a unique design accomplishes that, whatever the source I think. In the end, they all look official if they are well done.

I have considered it myself in the past, and I still may seek my own arms one day, but it has not yet proven important enough to go to the trouble . . . yet. I have spent a good deal of time in trying to design something myself, but I would seek out the help of someone who is adept at it if I were to go forward.

That's my two cents worth anyway. For the record: I am in no way denigrating arms or implying anything negative about them or anyone who holds them. However, in the US, there is no governmental body that controls such and, therefore, any body can produce a nice blazon. Official arms are very nice, and if they're important, one should certainly seek to have them granted.