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The Legislative Service Commission staff updates the Revised Code on an ongoing basis, as it completes its act review of enacted legislation. Updates may be slower during some times of the year, depending on the volume of enacted legislation.
 
 
 
Section
Section 981.01 | Timber dealers may adopt a trade-mark.
 

Persons, firms, or corporations dealing in timber in any form shall be known as "timber dealers," and may adopt a trade-mark in the manner and with the effect provided in sections 981.02 to 981.04, inclusive, of the Revised Code.

Section 981.02 | Trade-mark - application - exclusive property.
 

A timber dealer desiring to adopt a trade-mark under section 981.01 of the Revised Code may do so by executing in writing in form and effect as follows:

"Trade-mark.

Notice is hereby given that I (we) have adopted the following trade-mark, to be used in my (our) business as a timber dealer, to-wit: -- (Here insert the letters, words or figures, etc., constituting the trade-mark, or if it is any device other than letters, words, or figures, insert a facsimile of the device), dated this __________ day of __________, ______"

Such writing shall be acknowledged or proved for record in a like manner as deeds are acknowledged or proved, and shall be recorded in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county in which the principal office or place of business of such timber dealer is, and also in the office of the secretary of state. A copy of the writing shall be published at least once a week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in such county.

A trade-mark so adopted, from the date of its adoption, shall be the exclusive property of the person, firm, or corporation adopting it.

Section 981.03 | Trade-mark to be stamped on timber.
 

The proprietor of a trade-mark under section 981.02 of the Revised Code shall cause it to be plainly stamped, branded, or impressed upon each piece of timber upon which it is used. On the sale of such timber and at the request of the purchaser thereof, the dealer or owner of such trade-mark shall remove or cancel it.

Section 981.04 | Trade-mark evidence of ownership.
 

In an action or contest in which the title to trade-marked timber is in question, such trade-mark, in the absence of proof to the contrary, is prima-facie evidence that such timber is the property of the proprietor of such trade-mark.

Section 981.05 | Compensation for securing drift timber.
 

A person taking and securing boats, fleets of timber rafts, platforms, logs or trees prepared for the purpose of sale, crossties, railroad ties, boards, planks, staves, heading, or timber prepared for market, the property of another, found adrift in the Ohio river and the rivers and creeks within this state in which there is no boom or arrangement provided by the owner for the preservation thereof below the point at which they are so found, whether they have thereon a brand or trade-mark or not, shall receive a compensation from the owner thereof for so much thereof as he shall deliver to such owner, as follows:

(A) For each freight boat or other heavy boat, ten dollars;

(B) For each jack boat, skiff, or canoe, fifty cents;

(C) For each fleet of timber, ten dollars;

(D) For each raft of not less than forty logs, four dollars;

(E) For each platform of not less than ten logs, one dollar;

(F) For each saw log or other log or tree prepared for sale, twenty-five cents;

(G) For each crosstie or railroad tie, six cents;

(H) For boards or planks caught in rafts or large bodies ;

(1) One dollar per one thousand feet, board measure, for twenty thousand feet or less quantity;

(2) For over twenty thousand feet, fifty cents per one thousand feet, board measure; but if such boards or planks are loose and scattered, four dollars per one thousand feet, board measure, and for staves and heading, five dollars per thousand pieces for such as are merchantable.

Such charges shall be paid by the owner of such property, if required, upon its delivery to him. Such person shall have a lien upon the property so taken and secured by him for such fees and for his charges as provided in section 981.06 of the Revised Code.

Section 981.06 | Additional compensation.
 

A person taking a raft, fleet, or platform, as provided in section 981.05 of the Revised Code, in addition to the fees provided in such section, shall receive a reasonable compensation for keeping and caring for such property not exceeding the following rates:

(A) For each fleet, two dollars per day;

(B) For each raft, fifty cents per day;

(C) For each platform, twenty-five cents per day.

If a person takes a saw log or other log or tree prepared for sale, as provided in section 981.05 of the Revised Code, and it remains in his possession over thirty days from the time of so taking before the owner thereof offers to pay the charges provided in this section and section 981.05 of the Revised Code, he shall receive in addition to such charges twenty-five cents for each log or tree prepared for sale.

Section 981.07 | Sale of drift timber to secure compensation.
 

If the owner of a fleet, raft, platform, log, or tree prepared for the purpose of sale, a crosstie, railroad tie, board, plank, stave, heading, or timber prepared for market, fails to pay the sum chargeable thereon under sections 981.05 and 981.06 of the Revised Code within sixty days from the day they are so taken, they shall be sold at the instance of the person to whom such charges are due, by a constable or the sheriff of the county in which such property was taken. Such sale shall be at the front door of the courthouse of such county, at public auction, to the highest bidder, upon thirty days' written or printed notice, giving the time and place of such sale and a description of such property and the marks, brands, or trade-marks thereon, posted at the front door of such courthouse, and at two public places in the county where the property is located.

Section 981.08 | Disposition of moneys.
 

The officer making a sale under section 981.07 of the Revised Code shall pay to the person to whom the charges are due the legal fees and charges, and after deducting his commission, which shall be as upon sales under execution, shall pay the balance of the moneys arising therefrom to the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county in which such sales are made, and take his receipts therefor.

Section 981.09 | Liability of constable.
 

For any failure to perform his duties under sections 981.07 and 981.08 of the Revised Code, the constable or other officer is liable on his official bond to the party injured thereby.

Section 981.10 | Duty of clerk.
 

If the owner of drift timber recovered under section 981.05 of the Revised Code, within one year from the date of sale, appears before the clerk of the court of common pleas to whom the money has been paid, as provided in section 981.08 of the Revised Code, or appears before a judge of the court of common pleas, and establishes his right to such money to the satisfaction of such clerk or judge, it shall be paid to him by the clerk, on the order of the judge; otherwise, the proceeds of such sale shall be paid into the treasury of the county for the use of the schools as provided in section 3315.32 of the Revised Code.

Section 981.11 | Unauthorized use of timber dealer's trade-mark.
 

No person shall use or attempt to use a trade-mark, adopted as required by sections 981.01 to 981.04, inclusive, of the Revised Code, by a person, firm, or corporation dealing in timber, without the written consent of the owner thereof. Whoever violates this section shall be liable to the owner thereof for all damages sustained thereby.

Section 981.12 | Fraudulently placing trade-mark on the timber of another.
 

No person shall falsely or fraudulently place a trade-mark on timber which is not the property of the person, firm, or corporation dealing in timber which has legally adopted such trade-mark.

Section 981.13 | Defacing trade-mark on timber.
 

No person shall intentionally and without lawful authority remove, deface, or destroy a trade-mark, the owner of which has complied with sections 981.01 to 981.04, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and has plainly stamped, branded, or otherwise impressed it upon the piece of timber from which it is removed or upon which it is defaced or destroyed.

Section 981.14 | Secreting timber on which is stamped a trade-mark.
 

No person shall intentionally take a piece of timber upon which is stamped, branded, or impressed a trade-mark, the owner of which has complied with sections 981.01 to 981.04, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and put it in such a position or in a place so remote from the stream from which it was taken or on which it was afloat as to render it inconvenient or unnecessarily expensive to replace.

Section 981.99 | Penalty.
 

(A) Whoever violates section 981.11 or 981.13 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

(B) Whoever violates section 981.12 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

(C) Whoever violates section 981.14 of the Revised Code is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.