Title 15, Commerce and TradeRelease 119-110
§297 Stamping Plated Articles
Title 15 › CHAPTER 8 — FALSELY STAMPED GOLD OR SILVER OR GOODS MANUFACTURED THEREFROM › § 297
Summary
If an item is mostly a cheap metal but has a thin layer of gold or silver on it (like rolled gold, gold plate, gold filled, silver plate, or electroplate), you must not stamp it with words that people use to show real gold or silver purity unless you also clearly say it is rolled gold plate, gold plate, gold electroplate, or gold filled. You also must not stamp the words "sterling" or "coin" on those items, their tags, or their boxes. If a maker or seller puts or brings into the United States a stamp that makes an item look like it is gold or silver, and the item was made or imported more than six months after the law starts, they must put a registered trademark or their name on the item before mailing it or sending it across state lines. The trademark must be registered or applied for in the U.S. within 30 days after the item is sold or imported. If the item has separate parts of different quality, each part must be marked to show its own quality with marks of the same size and pattern, using the same method and letters at least as large and placed as near the quality mark as possible. State here also includes U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
Full Legal Text
Title 15, §297
Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(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.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The
Effective Date
of this Act, referred to in subsec. (b), as the first day of the third month beginning after Oct. 4, 1961, see
Effective Date
of 1961 Amendment note set out under this section.
Amendments
1970—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91–366 struck out reference to the trademark of a firm, corporation or association in cl. (A). 1961—Pub. L. 87–354 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1970 Amendment Pub. L. 91–366, § 4,
July 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 691, provided that: “This Act [amending this section and section 298 and 299 of this title and enacting provisions set out below] shall take effect three months after enactment [
July 31, 1970].”
Effective Date
of 1961 Amendment Pub. L. 87–354, § 2, Oct. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 776, provided that: “The
Amendments
made by this Act [amending this section] shall take effect on the first day of the third month beginning after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 4, 1961].” Separability Pub. L. 91–366, § 2, July 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 691, provided that: “If any provision of this Act [see
Effective Date
of 1970 Amendment note above] or any amendment made thereby, or the application thereof to any person, as that term is herein defined, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act or amendment and the application of the remaining provisions of the Act or amendment to any person shall not be affected thereby.”
Construction
of 1970 Amendment Pub. L. 91–366, § 3, July 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 691, provided that: “The provisions of this Act [see
Effective Date
of 1970 Amendment note above] and
Amendments
made thereby shall be held to be in addition to, and not in substitution for or limitation of, the provisions of any other Act of the United States.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
15 U.S.C. § 297
Title 15, Commerce and Trade
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110