There was big news about the collaboration of technological giant Samsung with the fashion brand Supreme. The companies announced their plans to enter the Chinese market together. Soon it became clear that the Supreme cooperating with Samsung was not the original Supreme founded by James Jebbia. How did it happen? Samsung establishing a partnership with the fake Supreme was possible because the New York brand doesn’t have rights to its trademark on Chinese territory. So, we decided to investigate who has the right to Supreme in China.
Supreme in China
It’s still unclear if Samsung was aware from the start that it was not working with the original Supreme. During the announcement of the partnership, on the stage, we could spot the well-known logo of the brand, and the representatives of both companies talked about their plans to enter the Chinese market and open the flagship store in China. When it turned out that Jebbia’s Supreme had nothing to do with the agreement, Samsung issued a statement clarifying that it was not working with Supreme New York but with Supreme Italia. The name is a so-called „legal fake” that uses the same trademark as the American brand on Italian and Spanish territory.
The first of these fake Supreme stores in China opened in 2018 in Shenzhen. It looked like a real Supreme store, and consumers could find products with the characteristic red and white logo there. It reminds us of a similar situation from a few years back when over 20 fake Apple stores opened in China.
Does Supreme New York have rights to Supreme in China?
According to some internet reports, Supreme Italia entering the Chinese market was completely legal because the company preceded Supreme New York there, thereby obtaining the right to use the name and logo in Asia. However, this is not entirely true, and the case is much more complicated.
When we checked in 2019 who was the owner of the rights to the Supreme name and logo in China, it turned out that the applications to register a trademark are still being processed. In addition, in the last few years, over 10 different companies applied to reserve the rights to trademarks nearly identical to the Supreme trademark. However, there was no Supreme Italia among them.
What’s very interesting is the fact that Supreme New York applied for trademark registration in 2014. It was not until 2017 that the application was initially accepted. Since then, the Chinese office still hasn’t granted full protection to the rightful owner of the Supreme New York brand (Chapter 4 Corp.) due to the pending opposition.
Moreover, Chinese entities began to submit to the Chinese trademark office applications for the trademarks like the famous Supreme logo. Some of them have already been rejected, but many applications are still awaiting examination. Below we present some of the applications found on the Chinese Trademark Office website:
There were some applications already declined for registration of the Supreme trademark:
Who has the right to Supreme in China?
It turns out that there is one company that managed to register the Supreme trademark, but in another product class (according to China’s Classification of Goods and Services). The applications shown above relate to classes 25 (Clothing, footwear, hats, socks, gloves) and 18 (Bags, leather goods, umbrellas). Whereas the same characteristic Supreme logo was successfully registered in the service class 35 (Advertising, business management, marketing). Since October 2018, a Hong Kong company is protected on account of the registered trademark. It’s worth mentioning that the same company tried to register this logo in other classes, but the application was rejected. According to the trademark law, the owner has reserved rights to the Supreme name and logo only in the chosen class. It’s still uncertain whether the registration of this name will affect other applications concerning an almost identical trademark. The registered trademark is shown below:
Will the Supreme trademark be registered in China?
The process of trademark registration can take a long time. It’s difficult to predict at this moment if the American brand will be able to obtain the right to use its logo in China or maybe one of the Chinese applicants will precede them. In our opinion, it’s possible that the rights to the name “Supreme” won’t be given to anyone. Generally, the Chinese trademark office is not willing to register common phrases. In this case, the attempt to register the name “Supreme” can be treated as if someone wanted to reserve the right to use the word “supreme”.
Other Supreme trademarks that don’t resemble the characteristic red and white logo in any way and were previously rejected by the office seem to prove this theory. However, we have no way of knowing the reasons for rejecting these specific trademarks, and we can only make assumptions. On the other hand, the name “Supreme” was successfully registered in the service class. As you can see, the case of registration of the Supreme name and trademark is complicated. Right now, it’s difficult to predict how it will all end and who will obtain the rights to use this trademark in China.
Trademark registration in China
In conclusion, the American company indeed doesn’t have the right to a registered trademark of Supreme in China. However, Supreme Italia doesn’t either. This case shows how important it is to register a trademark in China. The right to protection is granted to the entity that submits the application for registration. Not the one that actually uses that trademark.
If you engage in business with China, it’s a must that you register your name and trademark in China before someone else does.