A former cop-show extra who sells NYPD and FDNY patches online says the city is wrongly playing legal hardball with his eBay business.
Eliot Sash, 59, who has appeared on “Law & Order” and “NYPD Blue,” has been selling cloth patches and other city-related memorabilia, such as gold pins with precinct numbers, on eBay since 2009.
City lawyers last year started accusing him of trademark infringement for selling items with the city’s insignia, he says.
They even complained to eBay that his products were counterfeit, prompting the online seller to remove the patches from the site, Sash complains in a Brooklyn federal court lawsuit.
The counterfeit claim was false, says Sash, who insists his wares are either purchased legitimately from collectors or clearly marked “for decorative use only.”
“Every one of my listings has a disclaimer on it,” Sash told The Post.
Besides, the city can’t trademark its own insignia, he says in court papers.
Sash was arrested in 2002 for selling fake NYPD badges. But he claims his previous troubles “have nothing to do with” his eBay store, and that he’s “not in the badge business anymore.”
The city said it will review the complaint.