California · Business and Professions Code - BPC

BPC §17533.5: It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association to sell or offer for sale any surplus materials as defined in the Federal Surplus Property Act of 1944, being Chapter 479, Public

Misdemeanor

What this law says, in plain English

It is unlawful to sell surplus materials under a business name containing words like 'Army,' 'Federal,' or 'Navy' that mislead the public into believing the business is government-affiliated or that products are surplus government items, unless the name was used for three years before this law's effective date.

Read the full statutory text

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association to sell or offer for sale any surplus materials as defined in the Federal Surplus Property Act of 1944, being Chapter 479, Public Laws United States 457, approved October 3, 1944, if such person, firm, corporation or association does business, carries on or trades under or in any way uses in dealing with the public, directly or indirectly, any name which by reason of the inclusion of a word or words such as “Army,” “Navy,” “United States,” “Federal,” “treasury,” “procurement,” “G.I.,” or any others which connote the United States Government or its armed forces or any of its departments or agencies, has a tendency to lead the purchasing public to believe, contrary to fact, that the establishment at which such materials are offered for sale has some official relationship to the United States Government or that all of the articles sold or offered for sale are such surplus materials or that the articles there sold are of higher quality and lower prices than those elsewhere obtainable; provided, however, that this section shall not prohibit the continued use of a trade name by an establishment which for three years prior to the effective date of this section has continually used such word or words as its trade name or as a portion thereof.

Verify at the official source: California legislative text

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This page is legal information, not legal advice. Code text is sourced from official publications and may lag amendments — always confirm at the official source linked above. Plain-English summaries and relationship data are AI-derived and reviewed on an ongoing basis; verify with a licensed attorney before acting.