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New York Consolidated Laws, General Business Law - GBS § 392-c. Obliteration of marks of origin

Current as of January 01, 2026 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

1. Definitions.  As used in this section:

(a) “Person” shall be deemed to include a firm, partnership, association or corporation.

(b) “Sell” shall be deemed to include offer to sell, expose for sale, and possess with intent to dispose of or to sell.

(c) “Article of merchandise” shall be deemed to include a cask, bottle, stopper, vessel, case, cover, wrapper, package, band, ticket, label or other thing containing or covering an article of merchandise, or with which an article of merchandise is intended to be sold, or is sold.

(d) “Mark of origin” shall be deemed to mean and include any name, mark or indication of the place or country from which an article of merchandise was imported into the United States of America or its insular possessions, or the name, mark or indication of the place or country in which an article of merchandise was manufactured, packed, assembled, grown or produced.

(e) “Remove” shall be deemed to include deface, alter and obliterate.

(f) “Conceal” shall be deemed to include the original placing of a mark of origin upon an article of merchandise in any manner whatsoever, or the arranging or combining of two or more articles of merchandise into a single unit whereby the mark of origin is removed from open view, or is rendered illegible or inconspicuous.

(g) The terms “remove” and “conceal” are not to be deemed mutually exclusive.

2. Any person who wholly or in part removes or conceals or who shall cause to be, wholly or in part, removed or concealed from or upon an article of merchandise the mark of origin;  or who sells or causes to be sold an article of merchandise from or upon which to his or its knowledge, or to the knowledge of his or its agents, servants or employees there has been in whole or in part, removed or concealed the mark of origin, or who sells or causes to be sold an article of merchandise from the inspection of which such knowledge could have been obtained, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, provided that it shall not be deemed a violation of this section if at the time of sale said article of merchandise and the immediate and outer container or containers thereof shall be marked, stamped, tagged, branded or labeled in legible and conspicuous English words with said mark of origin or the concealment thereof shall have completely ceased.

3. The sale of an article of merchandise from which there has been in whole or in part removed or concealed a mark of origin shall be presumptive evidence of the violation of this section.

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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - New York Consolidated Laws, General Business Law - GBS § 392-c. Obliteration of marks of origin - last updated January 01, 2026 | https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/general-business-law/gbs-sect-392-c/

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