§ 392-f Taximeters. 1. Definitions. As used in this section:

(a) "Person" shall include a person, firm, partnership, association or
corporation.

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

(c) "Taximeter" shall include any device which, when affixed to a
motor vehicle, is so constructed as to operate as a fare indicator and a
time and distance register for the purpose of automatically determining
the charge for which a passenger becomes liable.

(d) "Remove" shall include deface, alter, conceal and obliterate.

2. (a) No manufacturer shall offer for sale any taximeter which does
not have etched, stamped or permanently impressed thereon a serial
number which has been assigned to it by the manufacturer.

(b) Any manufacturer who sells taximeters within the state shall keep
a record of the transaction. The record shall indicate (i) the serial
number of the taximeter sold, (ii) the name and address of the vendee,
(iii) the date of the sale and (iv) the purchase price.

3. A person being the owner or lawful custodian of a taximeter, the
original identification number of which shall have been removed or which
never bore a serial number, may apply to the county or municipal
authority charged with the obligation of regulating the taxicab industry
within its jurisdiction, if any, for permission to make or stamp, or
cause to be made or stamped on such taximeter a serial number. If
satisfied that the person making application for such permission is the
true owner of the taximeter and that its original number was not so
removed at the instigation of the person making such application, or, if
done by such person, was not done for an unlawful purpose, the county or
municipal authority shall issue to the applicant written permission to
stamp on the taximeter a special identification number designated by it.

4. Any person who wholly or in part removes or who shall cause to be,
wholly or in part, removed from or upon a taximeter the serial number;
or who sells or causes to be sold a taximeter 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
serial number, or who sells or causes to be sold a taximeter from the
inspection of which such knowledge could have been obtained, shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor.

5. The sale of a taximeter 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.