A. No person, firm, corporation or association, domestic or foreign, hereafter commencing business in this Commonwealth shall use the word “cooperative” or any abbreviation thereof, as a part of its corporate or business name unless it has complied with the provisions of this Act or some other statute of this Commonwealth relating to cooperative associations. A foreign association organized under and complying with the cooperative law of the state of such association’s creation shall be entitled to use of term “cooperative” in this Commonwealth if it has obtained the privilege of doing business in this Commonwealth under any cooperative statute of this Commonwealth. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. For the purpose of this section, each day’s violation may be considered a separate offense.

B. Subsection A shall not apply to a corporation or association, domestic or foreign, whose purpose is to promote housing opportunities or to represent, coordinate and further the purposes of groups organized to construct, operate, or promote housing, and such corporation or association may use the term “cooperative” as part of its corporate or other business name or title.

History

Code 1950, § 13-289; 1956, c. 428; 1993, c. 822.