Sec. 251.452. USE OF NAME "COOPERATIVE." (a) Only a cooperative association governed by this chapter, a group organized on a cooperative basis under another law of this state, or a foreign entity operating on a cooperative basis and authorized to do business in this state may use the term "cooperative" or any abbreviation or derivation of the term "cooperative" as part of its business name or represent itself, in advertising or otherwise, as conducting business on a cooperative basis.

(b) A person commits an offense if the person violates Subsection (a). An offense under this subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by:

(1) a fine of not less than $25 or more than $200 for the first month in which the violation occurs;

(2) a fine of not more than $200 for each month during which a violation occurs after the first month;

(3) confinement in the county jail for not less than 30 days or more than one year; or

(4) a combination of those punishments.

(c) The attorney general may sue to enjoin a violation of this section.

(d) If a court renders a judgment that a person who used the term "cooperative" before September 1, 1975, is not organized on a cooperative basis but is authorized to continue to use the term, the business shall place immediately after its name the words "does not comply with the cooperative association law of Texas" in the same kind of type and in letters not less than two-thirds the size of the letters used in the word "cooperative."

(e) Notwithstanding this section, The University Cooperative Society, a domestic nonprofit corporation related to The University of Texas, may continue to use the word "cooperative" in its name.

Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 182, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2006.