N.Y. General Business Law 234 – Quality; contents
§ 234. Quality; contents. There shall not be applied to any article any quality mark nor any colorable imitation thereof, nor any contraction thereof, nor any addition thereto, nor any words or letters, nor any mark purporting to be or resembling a quality mark except as follows:
Terms Used In N.Y. General Business Law 234
- applied: include any method or means of application or attachment to, or of use on, or in connection with, or in relation to, an article, whether such application, attachment or use is to, on, by, in or with
1. See N.Y. General Business Law 230 - Article: means any article of merchandise and includes any portion of such article, whether a distinct part thereof, or not (including every part thereof whether or not separable and also including material for manufacture). See N.Y. General Business Law 230
- Mark: means any mark, sign, device, imprint, stamp, brand applied to any article, or to any tag, card, paper, label, box, carton, container, holder, package cover or wrapping attached to, used in conjunction with or enclosing such article or any bill, bill of sale, invoice, statement, letter, circular, advertisement, notice, memorandum, or other writing or printing. See N.Y. General Business Law 230
- Quality mark: is a ny mark as herein defined indicating, describing, identifying or referring to or appearing or seeming or purporting to indicate, describe, identify or refer to the partial or total presence or existence of or the quality of or the percentage of or the purity of or the number of parts of platinum, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium in any article. See N.Y. General Business Law 230
(a) An article consisting of at least 985/1000ths parts of platinum, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, where solder is not used and at least 950/1000ths parts of said metal or metals where solder is used, may be marked "platinum," provided that the total of the aforementioned metals other than pure platinum shall amount to no more than 50/1000ths parts of the contents of the entire article.
(b) An article consisting of at least 985/1000ths parts of platinum, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, where solder is not used and at least 950/1000ths parts of the said metal or metals where solder is used, and provided further that at least 750/1000ths parts of said article are pure platinum, may be marked "platinum," provided immediately preceding the mark "platinum" there is the name or abbreviation as hereinafter provided, of either iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, which ever of said metals predominates, and provided further that such predominating other metal must be more than 50/1000ths parts of the entire article.
(c) An article consisting of at least 985/1000ths parts of platinum, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, where solder is not used and at least 950/1000ths parts of said metals where solder is used, provided more than 500/1000ths parts of said article consist of pure platinum, may be marked with the word "platinum," provided that said word is immediately preceded by a decimal fraction in one-thousandths showing the platinum content in proportion to the content of the entire article, and further provided that said mark "platinum" be followed by the name or abbreviation as herein allowed, of such one or more of the following metals, to wit: iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, that may be present in the article in quantity of more than 50/1000ths parts of the entire article. The name of such other metal or metals other than platinum, however, shall each be immediately preceded by a decimal fraction in one-thousandths showing the content of such other metal or metals in proportion to the entire article, as for example, 600 plat., 350 pall., or 500 plat., 200 pall., 150 ruth., 100 rhod.
(d) An article consisting of 950/1000ths parts of the following metals: platinum, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, and/or osmium with less than 500/1000ths parts of the entire article consisting of pure platinum, may be marked with the name iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, which ever predominates in the said article but in no event with the mark "platinum," provided, however, that the quantity of such metal other than platinum so marked, must be marked in decimal thousandths, and provided further that the name of such metal other than platinum so used must be spelled out in full irrespective of any other provisions of this article to the contrary.
(e) An article composed of platinum and gold which resembles, appears or purports to be platinum, may be marked with a karat mark and the platinum mark, provided:
1. The platinum in such article shall be at least 985/1000ths parts pure platinum; and
2. The fineness of the gold in such article shall be correctly described by the karat mark of said gold; and
3. The percentage of platinum in such article shall be no less than five per centum in weight of the total weight of the article; and
4. The mark shall be so applied that the karat mark shall immediately precede the platinum mark, as for example, "14K & Plat.", "18 K & Plat.", as the case may be, it being expressly provided that in case the percentage of platinum exceeds the five per centum provided herein, the quality mark may also include a declaration of the percentage of platinum, as for example, "18 K & 1/10th Plat.", or "14 K & 1/8 Plat." or as the case may be.
(f) An article composed of platinum and any other material or metal not resembling, appearing or purporting to be platinum, may be marked with the quality mark platinum provided all parts or portions of such article resembling or appearing or purporting to be platinum, or reasonably purporting to be described as platinum by said quality mark, shall be at least 985/1000ths parts pure platinum.