{"id":941,"date":"2019-01-10T10:33:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T10:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/examinechina.com\/blog\/?p=941"},"modified":"2023-05-04T12:35:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T12:35:08","slug":"supreme-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/supreme-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Who has rights to Supreme in China?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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\u2019t have rights to its trademark on Chinese territory. So, we decided to investigate who has the right to Supreme in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supreme in China<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 \u201elegal fake\u201d that uses the same trademark as the American brand on Italian and Spanish territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does Supreme New York have rights to Supreme in China?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s 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\u2019t granted full protection to the rightful owner of the Supreme New York brand (Chapter 4 Corp.) due to the pending opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-950 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-950 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark.png 724w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-300x246.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>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:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-945 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-945 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-china.png 742w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-china-300x242.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 742px) 100vw, 742px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&nbsp;A Shanghai company that applied for registration of the Supreme trademark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-in-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-946 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-in-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-946 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-in-china.png 736w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-in-china-300x245.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&nbsp;A Shishi company that applied for registration of the Supreme trademark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-951 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-951 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-china.png 739w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-china-300x242.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 739px) 100vw, 739px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Beijing company that applied for registration of the Supreme trademark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-in-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-952 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-in-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-952 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-in-china.png 742w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-trademark-in-china-300x241.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 742px) 100vw, 742px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Weihai company that applied for registration of the Supreme trademark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>There were some applications already declined for registration of the Supreme trademark:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-942 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-942 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme.png 750w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme-300x242.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&nbsp;A Xiamen company that applied for registration of the Supreme trademark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-943 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-943 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme-china.png 746w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fake-supreme-china-300x242.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 746px) 100vw, 746px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Hong Kong company that applied for registration of the Supreme trademark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who has the right to Supreme in China?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It turns out that there is one company that managed to register the Supreme trademark, but in another product class (according to China\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s still uncertain whether the registration of this name will affect other applications concerning an almost identical trademark. The registered trademark is shown below:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-italia-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-947 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-italia-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-947 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-italia-china.png 734w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-italia-china-300x248.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Will the Supreme trademark be registered in China?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The process of trademark registration can take a long time. It\u2019s 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\u2019s possible that the rights to the name \u201cSupreme\u201d won\u2019t 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 &#8220;Supreme&#8221; can be treated as if someone wanted to reserve the right to use the word \u201csupreme\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-948 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-948 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo.png 727w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo-300x245.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-949 lazyload\" width=\"600\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo-china.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-949 lazyload\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo-china.png 741w, https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/supreme-logo-china-300x243.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Other Supreme trademarks that don\u2019t 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 \u201cSupreme\u201d 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\u2019s difficult to predict how it will all end and who will obtain the rights to use this trademark in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trademark registration in China<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In conclusion, the American company indeed doesn\u2019t have the right to a registered trademark of Supreme in China. However, Supreme Italia doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you engage in business with China, it\u2019s a must that you <a href=\"https:\/\/examinechina.com\/trademark-registration\/\">register your name and trademark in China<\/a> before someone else does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 &#8230; <a title=\"Who has rights to Supreme in China?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/supreme-in-china\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Who has rights to Supreme in China?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[212],"tags":[39,210,211],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trademarks-in-china","tag-trademark-in-china","tag-trademark-registration","tag-trademark-registration-in-china","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6706,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/6706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.examinechina.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}