15 U.S.C. § 297 — Stamping plated articles

submitted 120 years ago by ch. 3289 to r/title-15-COMMERCE-AND-TRADE · 699 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law controls how gold- and silver-plated goods are marked. Sellers can't stamp plated items with words like "sterling", "coin", or bare fineness marks. Makers and importers of solid gold or silver goods must add a trademark or name too.

(a) Words "sterling" or "coin" forbidden This part covers merchandise made partly of a cheaper metal that has gold or silver plated, deposited, brazed, or otherwise attached to it — the kind known in the trade as rolled gold plate, gold plate, gold filled, silver plate, gold electroplate, silver electroplate, or something similar. The rule applies once such an item is imported into or exported from the United States, mailed, or handed to a common carrier for shipping, as described in section 294. For these items, and for any tag, card, label, box, package, cover, or wrapper that comes with them, no one may stamp, brand, engrave, or print a word or mark that is normally used to show how pure gold is, unless other words are added that clearly say the item (or that part of it) is rolled gold plate, gold plate, gold electroplate, or gold filled. Separately, none of these items or their tags, boxes, or wrappers may ever be stamped, branded, engraved, or printed with the word "sterling" or the word "coin" — alone or together with other words or marks. This ban applies no matter what clarifying words are added. (b) Identifying trademark This part applies to any manufacturer or dealer covered by section 294 who either (1) stamps, brands, engraves, or otherwise marks a quality mark on merchandise meant to be sold as a finished product to consumers, where the mark says or suggests the item is made wholly or partly of gold, silver, or an alloy of either, or (2) imports such marked merchandise into a state. Before that person mails the item, gives it to a common carrier, or ships it between states — and this only applies to items made or imported more than six months after this law took effect — they must: (A) put their own trademark on the item. That trademark must be registered, or an application for registration must be filed, under U.S. law within 30 days after the item bearing it enters commerce or is imported. Using their name instead of a trademark is also allowed. (B) If the item has two or more parts that are each complete but not of the same quality, and one part already carries a quality mark, then every other part must also get a quality mark of the same style and size showing its own quality. The trademark or name must be applied using the same method used for the quality mark, in lettering at least as large, and placed as close as possible to the quality mark. For this subsection, "State" also means Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Washington, D.C.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a) Words “sterling” or “coin” forbidden

In the case of articles of merchandise made in whole or in part of an inferior metal, having deposited or plated thereon or brazed or otherwise affixed thereto a plating, covering, or sheet composed of gold or silver, or of an alloy of either of said metals, and known in the market as rolled gold plate, gold plate, gold filled, silver plate, or gold or silver electroplate, or by any similar designation, so imported into or exported from the United States, or so deposited in the United States mails for transmission, or so delivered to any common carrier, or so transported or caused to be transported as specified in section 294 of this title, no such article, nor any tag, card, or label attached thereto, nor any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which such article is encased or inclosed, shall be stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted with any word or mark usually employed to indicate the fineness of gold, unless such word or mark be accompanied by other words, plainly indicating that such article or part thereof is made of rolled gold plate, gold plate, or gold electroplate, or is gold filled, as the case may be, and no such article, nor any tag, card, or label attached thereto, nor any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which such article is incased or inclosed, shall be stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted with the word “sterling” or the word “coin”, either alone or in conjunction with other words or marks.

(b) Identifying trademark

Whenever any person, firm, corporation, or association, being a manufacturer or dealer subject to section 294 of this title—

(1)

applies or causes to be applied to any article of merchandise intended for sale or customarily sold as a complete product to consumers in any State, by stamping, branding, engraving, or otherwise, any quality mark or stamp indicating or purporting to indicate that such article is made in whole or in part of gold or silver or of an alloy of either such metal; or

(2)

imports into any State any such article of merchandise bearing any such quality mark or stamp which indicates or purports to indicate that such article is made in whole or in part of gold or silver or of an alloy of either such metal,

such person, firm, corporation, or association, before depositing any such article manufactured or imported after six months after the effective date of this Act in the United States mails, or causing such article to be so deposited, for transmission thereby, or delivering such article or causing such article to be delivered to any common carrier for transportation from one State to any other State, or transporting such article or causing such article to be transported from one State to any other State, shall—

(A)

Apply or cause to be applied to that article a trademark of such persons, which has been duly registered or applied for registration under the laws of the United States within thirty days after an article bearing the trademark is placed in commerce or imported into the United States, or the name of such person; and

(B)

if such article of merchandise is composed of two or more parts which are complete in themselves but which are not identical in quality, and any one of such parts bears such a quality mark or stamp, apply or cause to be applied to each other part of that article of merchandise a quality mark or stamp of like pattern and size disclosing the quality of that other part.

Each identifying trademark or name applied to any article of merchandise in compliance with clause (A) of this subsection shall be applied to that article by the same means as that used in applying the quality mark or stamp appearing thereon, in type or lettering at least as large as that used in such quality mark or stamp, and in a position as close as possible to that quality mark or stamp. For the purposes of this subsection, the term “State” includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the District of Columbia.

Source credit: (June 13, 1906, ch. 3289, § 4, 34 Stat. 261; Pub. L. 87–354, § 1, Oct. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 775; Pub. L. 91–366, § 1(e), July 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 691.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1906Enacted · Act of June 13, 1906, ch. 3289 · 34 Stat. 261
1961Amended · Pub. L. 87-354 · 75 Stat. 775
1970Amended · Pub. L. 91-366 · 84 Stat. 691

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 3289 on 1906-06-13.

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