The United States Mint will not object to use of the final obverse or reverse design of any 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Program quarter-dollar coin approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, subject to the following conditions:
- Individual components of a coin’s reverse design (other than reoccurring text inscriptions that appear on every United States quarter-dollar coin in this program) may not be extracted and used separately from the coin design as a whole.
- Quarter designs and credits may not be used in any way that could mislead or deceive the public or imply that the United States Mint, the Department of the Treasury, or the United States Government sponsors, endorses, approves, or is associated with (a) the product or service in which the design is used; (b) the creators or distributors of the product or service; or (c) any other nonfederal entity, person, activity, product, or service.
- When practicable, high-resolution quarter images for reproduction should be obtained directly from the United States Mint by download from the Mint’s online News Image Library. The United States Mint cannot honor requests for camera-ready artwork or other reformatting.
- When a quarter reverse design obtained from any United States Mint source is reproduced for distribution in a publication (not on a product or in an advertisement), credit should be given as follows: “United States Mint image.” The credit should be placed next to the quarter design reproduction. The following entry may be used instead if a credit page is provided: “Quarter-dollar coin image [or images] from the United States Mint.”
- The quarter design’s use must be consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
Other laws may apply to the use of coin designs. The United States Mint strongly encourages members of the public interested in using coin designs to visit the Consumer and Business Awareness section of the United States Mint Web site for more information.
PLEASE NOTE: This policy does not cover use of the phrase “50 State Quarters” (which is a registered trademark of the United States Mint), or designs of the 50 State Quarters Program coins (which are addressed in a separate policy), nor does it cover publicity rights. It does not grant any waiver, release, or written permission of the Director under 18 U.S.C. § 709i or 31 U.S.C. § 333ii. By adopting and publishing this policy, the United States Mint is not waiving or abandoning any rights in designs assigned or licensed to it, and is not authorizing any acquisition or claim of exclusive rights (such as trademark rights) in quarter designs. The United States Mint makes no warranty of any kind and expressly disclaims any and all implied warranties relating to the quarter designs. This policy does not confer any personal right or cause of action, and does not relieve any party from any other duty or obligation.
Questions on this policy should be directed to the United States Mint Office of Licensing at 202-354-7350.
i 18 U.S.C. § 709 prohibits a person from knowingly using, without written permission of the Director of the United States Mint, “the words ‘United States Mint’ or ‘U.S. Mint’ or any colorable imitation of such words, in connection with any advertisement, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, play, motion picture, broadcast, telecast, or other production, in a manner reasonably calculated to convey the impression that such advertisement, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, play, motion picture, broadcast, telecast, or other production, is approved, endorsed, or authorized by or associated in any manner with, the United States Mint.”
ii 31 U.S.C. § 333 prohibits a person from using, “in connection with, or as a part of, any advertisement, solicitation, business activity, or product, whether alone or with other words, letters, symbols, or emblems [of the Treasury Department, its bureaus, including the United States Mint, and its officials, including United States Mint officials] . . . in a manner which could reasonably be interpreted or construed as conveying the false impression that such advertisement, solicitation, business activity, or product is in any manner approved, endorsed, sponsored, or authorized by, or associated with, the Department of the Treasury or any [Treasury Department bureau or official].”