Zhenggong'S Visit To China Has Removed Obstacles, And Supreme Italia'S Chinese Trademark Has Been Cancelled

Although supreme has yet to enter China, this trendy brand has to pay attention to this complex and active market.

According to the latest news that Italian brands are not allowed to enter the Chinese market, the trademark of Italian is not allowed to be sold in China.

Although supreme currently has no registration documents in China, according to the documents of the China Trademark Office, there are 85 applications waiting to be processed.

According to an earlier report by fashion business express, supreme Italia opened its first store in March at 839 Huaihai middle road in Shanghai and gave the brand its Chinese name. On the metal plaque on the side of the store said "supreme luxury Italian brand". The store mainly sells all kinds of products printed with the word "supreme", including T-shirts, hats and backpacks, with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan. On the right side of the shop, there are a series of suitcases jointly branded by supreme and rimowa.

Last year, it was pointed out that the joint venture between sume and sume was not caused by the announcement of sume, a famous brand in South Korea. In fact, the real American supreme brand has not entered the Chinese market at present.

In December last year, Samsung announced that it would launch a series of cooperation with supreme at the new product launch of galaxy a8s. Supreme, who claims to be the first flagship store to be opened in Shanghai in 2019, will be the first flagship store to be opened on the 7th floor of Shanghai.

International brand firm, the parent company of supreme Italia, was founded by the comola family in Italy. Different from the high price items of supreme brand, supreme Italia insists on making in Italy from style design, sports fabric to craft, and its price is close to the people. It is loved by many fashionable consumers. Even some domestic agents go to Italy to buy in bulk. In the eyes of consumers who are not familiar with the supreme brand, there is not much difference between the two products.

Soon, supreme Italia decided to expand from the Italian market to the global market. It is reported that in addition to supreme Italia, international brand firm has also registered "supreme" trademark patents in 54 countries around the world, including San Marino. It is obvious that international brand firm has long sensed the huge business prospects of the "supreme" brand.

At the same time, the trademark "supreme" has been registered in China for a long time, and offline stores that completely copy the decoration style of supreme brand have been opened in Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities, causing confusion to consumers. In June last year, a tide brand in China also said that it would co sign with supreme, which also aroused widespread discussion in the industry, and even invited the so-called "supreme manager" to the scene to sign a contract.

Another supreme store, located on Wuzhong road in Shanghai, also opened in March this year. It covers an area of about 400 square meters and has two floors. There is a huge word "supreme" on the signboard of the shop, and a special area for skateboarding ramp is set up, which attracts many consumers. Another person familiar with the matter said that supreme Italia will continue to expand in other parts of the country, such as Chengdu.

The expansion ambition of supreme Italia once caused panic among industry insiders and fans of supreme brand. The event caused the attention of supreme in the United States, and then the brand quickly took action to hire lawyers to protect their rights in China.

Supreme had no right to sell supreme or italime in Italy before it was registered in the market in 2017. Therefore, supreme had no right to sell the trademark of supreme or italime in Italy Products with Italia or supreme span trademarks. In addition, supreme's legal counsel also stressed that supreme did not lose any lawsuit against IBF / supreme Italia, but won every intellectual property litigation.

However, the proliferation of Shanzhai brands has something to do with supreme's brand strategy of lax trademark protection for a long time. On the one hand, it stems from Supreme's spiritual core of keeping a distance from business, and also from extremely cautious expansion strategy and relatively weak brand awareness.

Supreme, founded in 1994, did not file its trademark patent application for its brand name and "box logo" in the United States until 2011, and occasionally cracked down on and punished some product design plagiarism and infringement. Brands are also very strict with the choice of stores. As long as they do not meet the requirements for opening stores, they will definitely not open them. At present, there are only 11 physical stores in the world, mainly distributed in Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Paris, London and other recognized fashion capitals. Supreme also seems to have been deliberately avoiding the Chinese market, which is booming rapidly but with immature fashion culture, in order to maintain its rarity and particularity.

However, hunger marketing is like a double-edged sword. The excessively repressed speed of opening stores leads to a shortage of supply, which leads to the emergence of a large number of counterfeit brands. Businesses can openly sell "legal fake" by registering the "supreme" trademark, and turn fashion items into wealth generating tools. According to a report released by semrush, an online marketing company, online search for fake products increased by 15% year-on-year, with supreme at the top of its fake search list for two consecutive years.

As more and more counterfeit brands and products begin to affect business, supreme has accelerated the filing of registered trademark applications worldwide since 2013, and has successively obtained patents in nearly 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Brazil, France, Mexico and Peru. However, due to its early rejection of commercialization, supreme lost part of its initiative. At present, the speed of counterfeiting brand is so amazing that it has opened stores in the golden area of Chinese market.

Finding endorsements from authority has become a way for supreme to remain unique. In 2017, the co branding cooperation between supreme and Louis Vuitton was regarded as a betrayal of the independence of fashion culture by the early loyal fans of supreme, but it created unprecedented topic degree and sales achievements, and let more consumers know supreme. Sales of the line, which quickly reached $100 million, is now seen as a milestone in the convergence of fashion culture and luxury brands.

Supreme is also favored by Carlyle Group, a US private equity firm. In October 2017, Carlyle Group acquired 50% of supreme at a price of US $500 million. At that time, the highest valuation would be US $1 billion, and in addition, it would cover us $100 million of debt.

Although James jebbia stressed that supreme's control of the brand would not change as a result of its partnership with Carlyle. However, the industry is very clear that Carlyle Group's investment style has always been to seek potential brand investment and sell equity arbitrage after 3 to 5 years of brand appreciation, which also means that it attaches great importance to the commercial potential of investment brands. At that time, the people of supreme group especially urged Carlyle Group to focus on the growth of the global market, especially the Chinese market.

So while James jebbia has made supreme a near sacred religion, there is a clear sense of what is happening to the brand. Early supreme may not care about fake goods, because the foundation of this trend brand is based on "illegality", which is the misappropriation, ridicule and re creation of other people's creation, which is the embodiment of an ironic attitude. But now the situation has changed. Supreme, invested by Carlyle capital, has been forced into the sophistication of the business world. It will no longer tolerate counterfeits and will certainly care about the Chinese market.

More and more attention should be paid to the protection of luxury brands in China. At the beginning of this year, Christian Louboutin's judgment in China on the rejection of the second instance of administrative review on the trademark of "red shoes" means that "red shoes" are still expected to obtain trademark recognition in China. The case originated from the territorial extension of trademark protection submitted by Christian Louboutin in China in 2010. However, at that time, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board recognized the applied trademark as a graphic trademark. At present, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board is reviewing whether the "red soled shoes" comply with the protection of the trademark law.

In October last year, dunhill, a luxury brand owned by Lifeng group, announced that it had won a trademark protection case in China. Foshan intermediate people's Court of Guangdong Province ruled that danhooli, a cheap men's wear brand, had trademark infringement and improper competition, and was required to pay Dunhill 10 million yuan.

Similarly, today's supreme can adhere to the brand attitude, but it is no longer just a sentiment, and has to adapt to the rules of the business world. It may be only a matter of time before supreme officially enters the Chinese market after safeguarding its rights.