WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                      H.B. 1245

container, or clean laundered article, or description, name, mark or device that has been
previously registered by any other person, or is at such time used or in use by any other
person in good faith, whether under the provisions of this article or otherwise.

480.

In any prosecution under any of the provisions of the preceding sections, it shall not
be necessary to set forth or describe the name, mark or device affixed or attached to or
impressed or imprinted upon any returnable container, or the clean laundered or soiled
article; nor to set forth the particulars of the registration of same or of the assignment or
transfer of such registration, but it shall be sufficient to describe the container, or the
clean laundered or soiled article, so as to permit of its identification averring that the
same is distinctly marked, and is registered according to law, giving the name of the owner
of such returnable container, or the clean laundered or soiled article, or of the owner or
dealer using the same by virtue of such registration, or the name of the assignee or
transferee thereof as the case may be.

480A.

(a)     Nothing contained in this subtitle shall be construed as prohibiting the owner
of any type of returnable container or article described in this subtitle from bringing a
civil action, including an action for injunctive relief, to preserve the owner's rights, to
recover damages, or to take and recover the returnable containers or articles from any
person who unlawfully possesses the property of the owner.

(b)     Nothing contained in this subtitle shall be construed as prohibiting a
prosecution for theft under § 342 of this article.

[481.

All costs incurred in prosecutions under §§ 474 and 475 hereof, shall be assessed
and collected in the same manner as in criminal cases, and be accounted for in the same
manner as fines in cases of assault and battery are now by law disposed of.]

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the Administrative
Office of the Courts shall develop procedures for the clerk of the circuit court for each
county to transfer to the Secretary of State the records that the clerk has maintained
under Article 27, §§ 471 through 473 of the Code or, in accordance with any other
applicable provision of law, to otherwise dispose of records that are no longer required in
the office of the clerk for budget, auditing, or other purposes.

SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That, after the transfer of
records under this Act, the Secretary of State is authorized to issue certified copies of
those records with the same legal force and effect as if the copies had been issued by a
clerk prior to the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 4. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act is not intended,
and may not be construed, to affect any registration or document issued under Article 27,
§§ 471 through 481 of the Code prior to the effective date of this Act. Documents that
were issued by a clerk of a circuit court prior to the effective date of this Act shall
continue in effect in accordance with the provisions of Article 27, §§ 471 through 481 of
the Code.

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