Thomas F. Lukens Metal Company

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IN THE MATTER OF THOMAS F. LUKENS METAL COMPANY ET AL.

CONSENT ORDER, ETC. , IN REGARD TO THE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ACT Docket C-l089. Complaint, August 1966 Decision August, 1966 Consent order requiring a Philadelphia distributor of commercial solders to cease misrepresenting the tin content of its products. COMPLAINT Pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and by virtue of the authority vested in it by said Act, the Federal Trade Commission having reason to believe that Thomas F. Lukens Meta! Company, a corporation, and Mitchell Steinberg, individually and as an offcer of said corporation, hereinafter referred to as respondents, have violated the provisions of said Act and it appearing to the Commission that a proceeding by it in respect thereof would be in the public interest, hereby issues its complaint stating its charges in that respect as follows: PARAGRAPH 1. Respondent Thomas F. Lukens Metal Company is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virture of the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, with its principal offce and place of business located at 2915 East Hedley Street, in the city of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania. Respondent Mitchell Steinberg is an offcer of the corporate respondent. He formulates, directs and controls the acts and practices of the corporate respondent, including the acts and practices hereinafter set forth. His address is the same as that of the corporate respondent.

PAR. 2. Respondents are now, and for some time last past have been, engaged in the offering for sale, sale and distribution of commercial solders including wire solders designated "50/50 by volume" and "40/60 by voiume." Said solders are sold to retailers for ultimate resale to the pubiic.

PAR. 3. In the course and conduct of their business, respondents now cause, and for some time last past have caused, their said products, when sold, to be shipped from their place of business in the State of Pennsylvania to purchasers thereof located in various other States of the United States, and maintain, and at aU j , Complaint 70 F. T.

times mentioned herein have maintained, a substantial course of trade in said products in commerce, as Hcommerce" is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act.

PAR. 4. In the course and conduct of their business, and for the purpose of inducing the purchase of their commercial wire solders, respondents have engaged in the practice of labeling and describing certain of said solders as "50/50 by volume" and "40/60 by volume, PAR. 5. By and through the use of the aforesaid manner of labeling and describing said wire solders, the respondents represented :

(1) That their wire solder designated " 50/50 by volume" is a 50/50 solder which is known in the trade as a solder containing 50 % tin and 50 % lead by weight.

(2) That their wire solder designated "40/60 by volume" is a 40/60 solder which is known in the trade as a solder containing 40 % tin and 60 % lead by weight.

PAR. 6. In truth and in fact:

(1) Their wire solder designated " 50/50 by volume" is not a less than 501'0 50/50 solder as known in the trade as it contains tin and more than 50 % lead by weight.

(2) Their wire solder designated "40/60 by volume" is not a 40/60 solder as known in the trade as it contains Jess than 40 tin and more than 6070 lead by weight. Therefore, the statements and representations as set forth in Paragraphs Four and Five hereof were and are false, misleading and deceptive.

PAR. 7. In the conduct of their business, and at a1l times mentioned herein, respondents have been in substantial competition in commerce, with corporations, firms and individuals in the sale of products of the same general kind and nature as that sold by respondents.

PAR. 8. The use by respondents of the aforesaid false, misleading and deceptive statements, representations and practices has had, and now has, the capacity and tendency to mislead members of the purchasing public into the erroneous and mistaken belief that such statements and representations were and are true and into the purchase of substantial quantities of respondents' products by reason of said erroneous and mistaken belief. PAR. 9. The aforesaid acts and practices of respondents, as herein alleged, were, and are, a1l to the prejudice and injury of the THOMAS F. LUKENS METAL CO. ET AL. 481 479 Decision and Order public and of the respondents' competitors and constituted, and now constitue, unfair methods of competition in commerce and unfair and deceptive acts and practices in commerce, in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. DECISION AND ORDER The commission having heretofore determined to issue its complaint charging the respondents named in the caption hereof with violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the respondents having been served with notice of said determination and with a copy of the complaint the Commission intended to issue together with a proposed form of order; and The respondents and counsel for the Commission having thereafter executed an agreement containing a consent order, an admission by respondents of aU the jurisdictional facts set forth in the complaint to issue herein, a statement that the signing of said agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by respondents that the law has been violated as set forth in such complaint, and waivers and provisions as required by the Commission s rules; and The Commission, having considered the agreements, hereby accepts same, issues its complaint in thc form contemplated by said agreement, makes the following jurisdictional findings, and enters the following order:

1. Respondent Thomas F. Lukens Metal Company is a corporation organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, with its principal offce and place of business located at 2915 East Hedley Street, in the city of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania. Respondent MitcheU Steinberg is an offcer of the corporate respondent and his address is the same as that of the corporate respondent.

2. The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction of the subject matter of this proceeding and of the respondents, and the proceeding is in the public interest.

ORDER It is ordered That respondents Thomas F. Lukens Metal Company, a corporation, and its offcers, and Mitchell Steinberg, individually and as an offcer of said corporation, and respondents agents, representatives and employees, directly or through any Decision and Order 70 F. T. corporate or other device, in connection with the offering for sale sale or distribution of solders, in commerce, as "commerce " is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, do forthwith cease and desist from:

(1) Using the designation 50/50 alone or in conjunction with the words "by volume" to designate, describe or refer to a commercial solder which does not contain 50 % tin weight: Provided, however That it shall be a defense in any enforcement proceeding hereunder for respondents to establish that the tin content of a solder is within the permissible variations in composition allowed in the sampling procedures set forth in the then existing Specifications for Solder Metal as published by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

(2) Using the designation 40/60 alone or in conjunction with the words "by volume" to designate, describe or refer to a commercial solder which does not contain 40 % tin weight: Provided, however That it shall be a defense in any enforcement proceeding hereunder for respondents to establish that the tin content of a solder is within the permissible variations in composition allowed in the sampling procedures set forth in the then existing Specifications for Solder Metal as published by the American Society for Testing and :Materials.

(3) Misrepresenting by any numerical designation or in any other manner the tin content of any of their solders: Provided, however That it shall be a defense in any enforcement proceeding hereunder for respondents to establish that the tin content of a solder is within the permissible variations in composition allowed in the sampling procedures set forth in the then existing Specifications for Solder Meta! published by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

It is further ordered That the respondents herein shall, within sixty (60) days after service upon them of this order, file with the Commission a report in writing setting forth in detail the manner and form in which they have complied with this order. BEATRICE FOODS CO. 483 Complaint