Actually if you go to this link from the JVC it states it is
quoting federal law (US) and states you have to have a federally
registered trademark if you stamp your precious metals.
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep80ev [PDF file page 4]
The JVC document you link to nowhere states that it is quoting
federal law. It is clear from reading the pertinent paragraphs on
that page that it is interpreting federal law. The sidebar on page 4
states, and here I quote, “the guidance contained in this publication
is based on jvc’s interpretation of three regulatory systems as they
act in combination:…”
However if you read the actual statute, available online at the
Government Printing Office’s website,
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep80et
you will see clearly that a registered trademark is not necessary. A
mark indicating the name of the manufacturer or dealer who offers
the piece for sale will suffice. This is explicitly stated in section
297 subsection (b) clause (A). Note the final phrase of that clause,
“or the name of such person…” (Also note my quotation marks,
indicating that this is a direct quotation, not a paraphrase or
interpretation.)
Here is Section 297 subsection (b) in its entirety.
(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.
Elliot Nesterman