Radio Receiving Set Manufacturing Industry

16 CFR Part 142 · Trade practice rules · in the Code of Federal Regulations 1939-1949 (4 annual editions)

Scanned CFR pages, OCR text may contain errors; the linked Library of Congress PDF is the authority. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the FTC. These rules and guides are historical: most were rescinded or replaced, so do not assume any is in force.

Latest edition: Library of Congress, 1949 CFR · Earliest edition: 1939 CFR

Decisions that mention this industry's rules (1)

Text (1949 edition, OCR)

§ 142.1

(e) Inducing or receiving an illegal
discrimination in price. It is an unfair
trade practice for any member of the
industry engaged in commerce, in the
course of such commerce, Knowingly to
induce or receive a discrimination in
price which is prohibited by the fore-
going provisions of this section.

(Sec. 2, 38 Stat. 730, as amended, secs. 2, 3, 4,
49 Stat. 1527, 1528; 15 U. S. C. 13, 18a, 13b,
21a)

Part 142—Radio Receiving Set
Manufacturing Industry

GROUP I
Sec.

142.1 Misbranding, misrepresentation and

deceptive selling methods.
“All-wave,” “Standard broadcast,” etc,
Specific types of advertisements of
representations among those pro-
hibited.
Sponsorship.
Deception.
Imitation of
names, etc.
142.7. Commercial bribery.
142.8 “Spiffs,” “push money,” etc.
AvuTHority: §§ 142.1 to 142.8 issued under
sec. 6 (g), 38 Stat, 722; 15 U. S. C. 46 (g).
Interpret or apply sec. 5, 38 Stat. 719, as
amended; 15 U. S. C. 45. Other statutory
provisions interpreted or applied are cited
to text in parentheses.

Source: §§ 142.1 to 142.8 appear at 4 F. R.
3396.

§ 142.1 Misbranding, misrepresenta-
tion and decedtive selling methods. It is
an unfair trade practice for any member
of the industry, in the course of or in re-
lation to the marketing or distribution of
radio receiving sets, parts or accessories
therefor, or other products of the indus-
try (a) to use, or to cause, promote or
further the use of, any marks, brands,
labels, depictions, advertisements, trade
promotional descriptions or representa-
tions of any kind which, directly or by
implication, are false, misleading or de-
ceptive to the purchasing or consuming
public; or (b) to offer for sale, sell or
distribute, or to cause or promote the
sale or distribution of, radio receiving
sets, parts or accessories therefor, or
other products of the industry, under
any other conditions or selling practices
which have the capacity and tendency or
effect of misleading or deceiving the pur-
chasing or consuming public.

§ 142.2 “All-wave,”’ “Standard broad-
cast,” etc. In the application of the rules
in this part and for the purpose of avoid-

142.2
142.3

142.4
142.5
142.6

trade-marks, trade

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Title 16—Commercial Practices

ing confusion, misunderstanding and de-
ception: (a) Except as provided in para-
graph (b) of this section, the terms “all-
wave,” “world - wave,’ ‘world - wide
wave,” or words, phrases or representa-
tions of similar import, shall not be used
as descriptive of a radio receiving set
advertised, offered for sale, sold or dis-
tributed in the American market when
such set is not constructed to receive and
capable of receiving, with reasonable or
adequate consistency, the entire spec-
trum of radio frequencies in recognized
use in the art, namely, all long-wave
broadcasts and transmissions; all me-
dium-wave and short-wave broadcasts
and transmissions, and all other waves
transmitted or broadcast, including both
foreign and domestic; excepting, how-
ever, that such set so described or rep-
resented need not include within its ca-
pacity of reception such point-to-point
transmissions as are confidential and il-
legal for general reception and divul-
gence. by memhers of the public, nor such
unchanging signals as emanate from
radio beacons or radio lighthouses, when
such set is not otherwise falsely or decep-
tively described or represented, directly
or indirectly, as being constructed to re-
ceive, or as being capable of receiving,
such point-to-point or beacon or light-
house transmissions.

(b) Nothing contained in this section
shall prohibit the use of the term “lim-
ited all-wave,” “limited world-wave,”
“limited world-wide wave,” or term or
words of similar import, as descriptive of
a radio receiving set advertised, offered
for sale, sold or distributed in the Ameri-
can market when such set is constructed
for and capable of consistently receiving
at least a continuous spectrum of fre-
quencies from 540 kilocycles to 18,000
Kilocycles; Provided, Such term or words
are immediately accompanied by words,
phrases or terms set forth conspicuously
and clearly, unequivocably and truth-
fully stating the exact wave bands or fre-
quencies which such set is capable of
consistently receiving; for example:

Limited Ail-Wave—From 540 to 18,000
Kilocycles

Limited All-Wave—From 5380 to 21,000
Kilocycles

Limited World-Wave—From 540 to 18,000
Kilocycles

Limited World-Wide Wave—From 540 to
18,000 Kilocycles

Limited All-Wave—From 140 to 410 Kiio-
cycles, and From 540 to 18,000 Kilocycles


Chapter |—Federal Trade Commission

Limited World-Wave—From 540 to 18,000
Kilocycles and From 19,000 to 28,500 Kilo-
cycles

Limited World-Wide Wave—From 150 to
400 Kilocycles, and From 540 to 35,000 Kilo-
cycles

(c) Nothing contained in this section
shall prohibit the use, as descriptive of a
radio receiving set, of the term “all
waves” as an integral part of a clause,
sentence or statement which truthfuliy
and unequivocally sets forth the bands or
radio frequencies such set does not cover,
and wherein the words “all waves” are
not given greater prominence or con-
spicuousness than the other parts of such
clause, sentence or statement; provided
such set is constructed for and capable
of receiving with reasonabie or adequate
consistency all the waves or bands of fre-
quencies from 540 to 18,000 kilocycles
and such other bands or frequencies as
are represented to be within its recep-
tive capacity. The following are illus-
trative of such permissible phrases here
provided for:

All waves except for frequencies above
21,000 kilocycles and below 540 kilocycles

All waves except Asiatic stations

All waves except foreign and domestic fre-
quencies above 18,000 kilocycles and below
540 kilocycles.

(d) The term “standard broadcast”
shall not be used as descriptive of a radio
receiving set which is not built for or
capable of receiving with reasonable or
adequate consistency a continuous spec-
trum of frequencies from 540 to at least
1600 kilocycles.

(e) Also, the term “standard broad-
cast” as descriptive of a radio receiving
set shall not be used in such manner as
to lead the public to believe (1) that such
set is constructed for and capable of re-
ceiving with reasonable or adequate con-
sistency a greater number of radio fre-
quency signais than is in fact true of
such set; or (2) that the set is capable
of so receiving more than the continuous
spectrum of frequencies from 540 to 1600
kiiocycles.

(f) In the advertisement or sale of ra-
dio receiving sets, disclosure of the exact
bands of frequencies which such sets are
constructed to receive and capable of
receiving with reasonable or adequate
consistency is deemed desirable in the in-
terest of avoiding confusion, misunder-
standing or deception of purchasers.
Failure or refusal adequately to make
such disclosure of frequencies, in connec-
tion with the use of the term “standard

§ 142.3

broadcast” or otherwise, when the ca-
pacity and tendency or effect thereof is
to mislead or deceive the purchasing or
consuming public, is an unfair trade
practice,

(g) Nothing in this part shali pre-
vent the use, in lieu of “kilocycles,” of
other recognized units of measurement,
such as “meters” or “megacycles,” when
employed in a truthful and nondecep-
tive Manner.

§ 142.3 Specific types of advertise-
ments or representations among those
prohibited. It isan unfair trade practice
for any member of the industry to use,
or cause to be used, any of the following-
described types of advertisements or
representations:

(a) Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that any
radio receiving set so advertised or rep-
resented wiil receive distant stations or
any or all foreign broadcasts or trans-
missions eastiy or satisfactorily or as
easily or satisfactorily as local or domes-
tic reception, when such is not the fact.

(b) Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that any
radio receiving set so advertised or rep-
resented, or the reception thereof, is not
subject to interference or to being inter-
fered with or interrupted by fading,
noise, electrical interference, atmos-
pheric conditions, static or any other
phenomena or conditions, when such is
not the fact.

(c) Advertisements or  representa-
tions, with respect to the receiving ca-
pacity or performance of a radio receiv-
ing set, which make deceptively exagger-
ated or misleading claims or claims
which are not justified and supported by
the fact or performance of such radio set
in the locality in which it is so adver-
tised, represented and sold.

(d) Advertisements or representations
which directly or by implication lead
purchasers to believe that the radio set
so advertised or represented is capable
of greater or more consistent or satis-
factory performance or reception than
is in fact true.

(e) Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that any
radio receiving set so advertised or rep-
resented wili give world-wide continuous
reception or other continuous reception,
when such is not the fact; or that the
radio receiving set will give such recep-
tion or other reception with loud speaker
volume, when such is not the fact; or

Page 359


§ 142.3

that the radio receiving set wili give
world-wide reception or other reception
regularly or dependably, when such is
not the fact.

(f) Advertisements or representations
which present claims or representations
concerning any radio receiving set in
such a way as deceptively to cover or
conceal defects or deficiencies inherent
in such set, or defects or deficiencies in-
herent in the contemporaneous state of
the art to which the receiving set is sub-
ject but which are not generaliy known
to the purchasing public.

(g) Advertisements or representa-
tions, of any radio receiving set, stating,
purporting or implying that each station
or any station, whether nearby or foreign
or domestic, can be brought in, or
brought in with sharp, clear or distinct
- reception or with ease, simplicity or reg-
ularity, by any radio receiving set so ad-
vertised or represented, when such is not
the fact.

(h) Advertisements or representa-
tions stating, purporting or implying
that any radio receiving set so advertised
or represented will bring in or receive
broadcasts from Europe, Africa, South
America, Australia or Asia, or from any
other designated locality; or that it will
bring in such broadcasts, or any of them,
consistently or satisfactorily, when such
is not the fact.

(i) Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that any
radio receiving set so advertised or rep-
resented sifts out noise or is free from
noise, or brings in far distant stations
sharp or clear, when such is not the, fact.

() Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that any
radio receiving set so advertised or rep-
resented will bring in or receive satisfac-
torily or consistently foreign stations,
police calls, aviation calls, radio trans-
missions from or to ships at sea, amateur
stations or other types of radio transmis-
sions, when such is not the fact, or when
only a smail part of any such class of
radio frequencies transmitted or broad-
cast is so receivable and such fact, or the
fact that others of the same ciass are not
so receivable, is deceptively concealed,

(k) Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that any
radio receiving set so advertised or rep-
resented contains a certain number of
tubes or is of a certain tube capacity
when one or more of such tubes in the set
are dummy or fake tubes, or are tubes

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Title 16—Commercial Practices

which perform no useful function, or are
tubes which do not perform or were not
placed in the set to perform the recog-
nized and customary function of a radio
receiving set tube in the detection, am-
plification and reception of radio signals.

Nore 1; In order to avoid and prevent de-
ceptive or misleading tendencies or results,
so-called “ballast tubes,” dial or other lamps
used for illumination, so-called plug-in re-
sistors, and other accessories or devices not
serving the recognized and customary func-
tion of a radio receiving set tube, are not to
be included as tubes In advertisements or
representations of a radio receiving set which
describe or refer to the set as having a certain
number of tubes or as being of a specified
tube capacity. References to rectifier tubes,
and to tubes, devices or accessories which do
not serve as signal amplifylng or detecting
tubes or heterodyne oscillator tubes, should
be such as to clearly avoid misunderstanding
or deception of purchasers.

Nore 2: The following interpretation with
respect to § 142.3 (k) was issued Feb. 18,
1947, 12 F. R. 1182:

Under Rule 3 (kK) of the Trade Practice
Rules for the Radio Receiving Set Manufac-
turing Industry and in the light of the de~
cision of the Court in Zenith Radio Corpora-
tion v. Federai Trade Commission, 7 Cir., 143
F, 2d 29, the Commission considers it im-
proper to include rectifiers in the tube count
in representations that a set contains a desig-
nated number of tubes or is of a designated
tube capacity.

The Commission does not regard it as im-
proper, where the advertisement prominently
and conspicuously states the actual tube
capacity of a radio set (computed without in-
clusion of rectifiers or other devices which
do not perform the recognized and customary
function of radio receiving set tubes in the
detection, amplification and reception of
radio signals) for such advertisement also to
contain a further statement to the effect that
the set in addition contains a rectifier, pro-
vided such is true and the advertisement as a
whole or in any part involves no misrepre-
sentation or deception. Jlustration of such
expression as descriptive of a set containing
eight tubes computed in accordance with the
above and a rectifier ts as follows:

.An Eight Tube Set: This set in addition
contains a rectifier.

(1) Advertisements or representations
of any radio receiving set, or of any part
or accessory therefor whatsoever, in such
a manner as deceptively to conceal the
true function of such part or in such
manner as otherwise to mislead or de-
ceive the purchasing or consuming pub-
lic in respect to such set or such part or
accessory.

(m) Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that the

°


Chapter I—Federal Trade Commission

price of radio receiving sets, parts or
accessories therefor so advertised or rep-
resented have been reduced or are re-
duced prices, or have been reduced a
certain amount, when in fact such pur-
ported or represented price reduction is
fictitious, or is otherwise misleading or
deceptive.

(n) Advertisements or representations
stating, purporting or implying that
radio receiving sets so advertised or
represented are of the latest model,
when such is not the fact; or advertise-
ments or representations which, directly
or indirectly, have the capacity and
tendency or effect of leading the pur-
chasing public to believe that the set
is of the current year’s model or has not
been supplanted, superseded or suc-
ceeded by a newer or later model, when
such is not true in fact; or advertise-
ments or representations which are
otherwise deceptive or misleading re-
specting the model of the set."

(o) Advertisements or representations
of radio receiving sets or prices therefor
which deceptively or misleadingly con-
ceai the fact that the advertised price
does not cover necessary or advertised
accessories or devices which must be
purchased with the set at an additional
charge; or which falsely or deceptively
state or imply that the advertised price
covers such accessories or devices, when
such is not the fact.

(p) Advertisements or representations
of radio receiving sets which present

former prices or so-called list prices —

which are fictitious.

(q) Advertisements or representations
of purported bona fide trade-in allow-
ances when the price of the new set so
offered for sale has been deceptively in-
flated or marked up to offset the trade-in
aliowance.

§ 142.4 Sponsorship. It is an unfair
trade practice to use, or cause to be
used, advertisements or representations,
of radio receiving sets, parts or aCces-
sories therefor, or of other products of
the industry, which have the capacity
and tendency or effect of misleading pur-
chasers or the consuming public into the
belief that such radio sets, parts, acces-
sories or products are sponsored or man-
ufactured by, or are otherwise associ-
ated with, any person, concern or organi-
zation which is or has been prominent or
well known in the electrical or radio in-
dustry, or by or with any other person,

§ 142.8

firm, corporation or association, when
such is not the fact.

§ 142.5 Deception—(a) Alteration of
brand name. The defacement or re-
moval of the correct name plate or brand
name of a radio receiving set, or the
replacement thereof by another name or
mark, when done with the capacity and
tendency or effect of thereby misleading
or deceiving the purchasing or consum-
ing public in respect to the origin, manu-
facture or true name of such set, or in
any other material respect, is an unfair
trade practice.’

(b) Deceptive use or change of cabi-
nets. The placing of a radio receiving
set or chassis in a cabinet designed or
made for a set or chassis of a different
manufacturer or for a set or chassis of a
different size, type or model, when done
with the capacity and tendency or ef-
fect of thereby misleading or deceiving
the purchasing or consuming public as to
the origin, size, capacity, make, manufac-
ture, brand or type of such set or cabinet,
or when done to mislead or deceive pur-
chasers in any other respect, is an unfair
trade practice.

§ 142.6 Imitation of trade-marks,
trade names, etc. The imitation or sim-
ulation of the trade-marks, trade names,
labels or brands of competitors, with the
capacity and tendency or effect of mis-
leading or deceiving the purchasing or
consuming public, is an unfair trade
practice.

§ 142.7 Commercial bribery. It is an
unfair trade practice for a member of
the industry directly or indirectly to
give, or offer to give, or permit or cause
to be given, money or anything of value
to agents, employees or representatives
of customers or prospective customers,
or to agents, employees or representa-
tives of competitors’ customers or pro-
spective customers, without the knowl-
edge of their employers or principals, as
an inducement to influence their em-
Ployers or principals to purchase or con-
tract to purchase products manufac-
tured or sold by such industry member
or the maker of such gift or offer, or
té6 influence such employers or princi-
pals to refrain from dealing in the prod-
ucts of competitors or from dealing or
contracting to deal with competitors.

§ 142.8 “Spiffs,’ “push money,” etc.
It is an unfair trade practice for any
member of the industry, directly or in-

Page 367


§ 143.1

directly, to give, pay or contract to pay,
to any clerk or salesperson of any cus-
tomer-dealer handling two or more com-
petitive brands of radio merchandise,
“push money,” “spiffs”. or any other
bonus, gratuity or payment, as an in-
ducement or encouragement to push or
promote the sale of such member’s prod-
uct or products over competing products
of other members in the industry:

(a) With the capacity and tendency
or effect of thereby causing the pur-
chasing or consuming public, when mak-
ing purchases of such products, to be
misled or deceived into the erroneous
belief that such clerk or salesperson is
free from any such special interest or
influence, or is not so subsidized or paid
by such member; or

(b) With the capacity and tendency
or effect of thereby hampering and un-
duly restricting the legitimate, free and
full use and enjoyment of such retail
trade outlets for the distribution to the
public of competing products; or

(c) With the purpose or effect, directly

or indirectly, of otherwise substantially
lessening competition or unreason-
ably restraining trade in the marketing
of the products of the industry; or

(d) With the effect of thereby bring-
ing about the granting of an illegally dis-
criminatory service, payment or price
contrary to section 2 of the Clayton Act
as amended by the act of Congress ap-
proved June 19, 1936, known as the Rob-
inson-Patman Act.

(Sec. 2, 38 Stat. 730, as amended, secs. 2, 3,
4, 49 Stat. 1527, 1528; 15 U. S. C. 13, 18a,
13b, 21a)

Part 143—Curled Hair Industry
GROUP I

Sec.

143.1 Misbranding.

143.2. Misrepresentation of industry prod-
ucts.

143.3 Deceptive nondisclosure.

143.4 Misuse of the term “hair,” etc.

143.5 Substitution of products.

143.6 False invoicing.

143.7. Imitation or simulation of trade-
marks, trade name, brands or
labels. 5

143.8 Commercial bribery.

143.9 Defamation of competitors or dispar-
agement of their products.

143.10 Inducing breach of contract.

143.11 Discrimination.

AUTHORITY: §§ 143.1 to 143.11 issued under
sec. 6 (g), 38 Stat. 722; 15 U. 8. C. 46 (g).

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Title 16—Commercial Practices

Interpret or apply sec. 5, 38 Stat. 719, as
amended; 15 U. S. C. 45. Other statutory
provisions interpreted or applied are cited
to text in parentheses.

Source: §§ 143.1 to 143.11 appear at 5
F. R. 173.
§ 143.1 Misbranding. The false or

deceptive marking or branding of prod-
ucts of the industry with respect to the
grade, quality, quantity, use, size, mate-
rial, content, substance, new or second-
hand condition, origin, preparation,
manufacture or distribution of such
products, or in any other material re-
spect, is an unfair trade practice.

§ 143.2 Misrepresentation of indus-
try products. It is an unfair trade prac-
tice to make or publish, or cause to
be made or published, directly or indi-
rectly, any false, misleading or deceptive
statement or representation, by way of
advertisement or otherwise, concerning
the grade, quality, quantity, use, size,
material, content, substance, origin, new
or secondhand condition, preparation,
manufacture or distribution of any prod-
uct of the industry, or in any other ma-
terial respect.

§ 143.3 Deceptive nondisclosure—(a)
Nondisclosure of second-hand hair or
fiber. To sell or offer for sale any indus-
try product containing, in whole or in
part, any hair or fiber which has previ-
ously been used in any article or for any
purpose, without making full and non-
deceptive disclosure in selling literature,

- tags or labels, and in invoices, of the fact

that such hair or fiber is secondhand or
used, is an unfair trade practice.

(b) Nondisclosure of kind of hair. To
the end that purchasers may be cor-
rectly informed and that unfair meth-
ods of competition and unfair or decep-
tive acts or practices may be avoided
and prevented in the sale or offering for
sale of curled hair or curled hair prod-
ucts, full and nondeceptive disclosure
should be made by members of the in-
dustry in selling literature, tags or la-
bels, and in invoices, of the kind of hair
contained in said merchandise sold or
offered for sale by them, whether horse
tail, cattle tail, horse mane, hog, or other
kind of hair, together with the propor-
tion of each kind of hair contained
therein; and it is an unfair trade prac-
tice to fail or refuse to make such dis-
closure to purchasers where such non-
disclosure or the concealment of the
kind of hair contained in the product