Protection of owners of marked or branded field boxes or other specified containers; recordation.

Any person who owns field boxes, pallets, crates, containers, or receptacles used in the general production, harvesting, packing, transportation, or marketing of fruits or vegetables or their byproducts or used for the storage or transport of agricultural or other commercial goods in this state may adopt for his or her exclusive use and ownership a mark or brand that designates or distinguishes his or her ownership and may identify his or her field boxes, pallets, crates, containers, or receptacles with a mark or brand using initials, symbols, designs, names, or any combination thereof, by plainly and distinctly stamping, stenciling, painting, cutting, etching, or burning the mark or brand into or upon both ends or sides of the field boxes, pallets, crates, receptacles, or containers. For purposes of any court or administrative proceeding, if a copy of the mark or brand is filed and recorded with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services pursuant to this chapter, the presence of this identifying mark or brand and the required registration number on any field box, pallet, crate, container, or receptacle is prima facie evidence of ownership.