People v. Thiam

In People v. Thiam (189 Misc. 2d 810 [Crim Ct, NY County 2001]), the court decided the issue of how much identification and detail was sufficient for pleading purposes. The Thiam court, in accord with the other lower courts, recognized that the element of an identical or substantially indistinguishable trademark is essential to establish a prima facie case (id. at 813). The complaint did not assert facts detailing the actual appearance of the trademarks or their alleged imitations, but rather stated that the imitation merchandise "contained counterfeit trademarks which are substantially the same as the genuine trademarks except that the genuine Kate Spade trademark has the Kate Spade logo sewn onto the handbag while the counterfeit Kate Spade trademark has the Kate Spade logo glued onto the handbag and the genuine Oakley trademark has the Oakely trademark printed on the sunglasses so it cannot be removed while the counterfeit Oakley trademark can be easily removed from the Oakley sunglasses" (id. at 811). The Thiam court distinguished other lower court cases, reasoning that each of them was devoid of any description of the trademark (id. at 813 n). It held that a description of the difference in the manner that the genuine and the imitation trademark is affixed to the product was sufficient for pleading purposes.