August 2, 2005 -- The city yesterday sued a popular marketer of police and firefighter merchandise for infringing on its trademarks.
The suits, filed in Manhattan federal court, claim companies owned by Noam Freedman are selling unauthorized products emblazoned with "NYPD" and "FDNY" at two Manhattan stores.
The city wants his firms to stop sales in the stores and on the Internet and to pay unspecified damages.
Freedman said he was disappointed New York had decided to attack a business that opened in 1991, when the city did not actively market that kind of merchandise.
"Going after a family business with our history should be humiliating for them," he said.
He said he called the Fire Department in 1991, and was told it had no licensing program.
"They said it sounded like a good idea and wished us luck," he said. "We created the field."
In 1996, he said, he opened a store selling police merchandise and endured difficult years when cops were unpopular.
He said Sept. 11 "put an end to open hostility" and scores of people were soon lined up outside.
But he said he never took advantage of the tragedy. "We knew a number of people who died that day," he said. "We made money, but a fraction of what was available to us."
He said the stores donated $250,000 to a variety of charities and institutions, including police and firefighter organizations and a burn center.
