The use of Government trade-marks in an unauthorized manner, or the colorable imitation of such marks, is subject to the criminal penalties imposed by section 5 of the said act (49 Stat. 892; 25 U.S.C. 305d), which provides:
Any person who shall counterfeit or colorably imitate any Government trade-mark used or devised by the Board as provided in section 305a of this chapter, or shall, except as authorized by the Board, affix any such Government trade-mark, or shall knowingly, willfully, and corruptly affix any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation thereof upon any products Indian or otherwise, or to any labels, signs, prints, packages, wrappers, or receptacles intended to be used upon or in connection with the sale of such products, or any person who shall knowingly make any false statement for the purpose of obtaining the use of any such Government trade-mark, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be enjoined from further carrying on the act or acts complained of and shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $2,000, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(a) To insure the widest distribution of genuine Indian handicraft products, and to protect the various enterprises organized by individual Indian craftsmen, or by groups of Indian craftsmen, for the purpose of the production and sale of such handicraft products, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board offers each such enterprise the privilege of attaching to its trademark a certificate declaring that it is recognized by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board as an Indian enterprise dealing in genuine Indian-made handicraft products, and that its trade-mark has the approval of the Board.
(b) The certificate shall consist of a border around the trade-mark bearing the words “Certified Indian Enterprise Genuine Handicrafts, U.S. Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Department of the Interior,” and these words may be used wherever the trade-mark appears.
To be eligible to attach the certificate, an enterprise must meet the following conditions:
(a) It must offer for sale only Indian-made genuine handicraft products, i.e., objects produced by Indian craftsmen with the help of only such devices as allow the manual skill of the maker to condition the shape and design of each individual product.
(b) It must be entirely Indian owned and organized either by individual Indians or by groups of Indians.
(c) It must agree to apply certificates of genuineness only to such products as meet the standards of quality prescribed by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board at the time of the application of the enterprise for the privilege of attaching the certificate.
(d) It must agree to obtain the approval of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board as to the manner of production of the certificates.
If an enterprise, after securing the privilege of attaching the certificates, should fail to meet the above-named conditions, the Board reserves the right to revoke the privilege.
source: 8 FR 8736, June 26, 1943, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 25 CFR 308.4