Street wear brand Supreme ' s li tig ation issues
World - f amo us street wear brand Supreme has been fin ed 8. 5 million yuan (abo ut 170 million yen) for vio lat ing anti - un fair competition laws in the Chinese market . The law suit was based on alleg ations that a store in China that did not have a proper license was using Supreme ' s trad emark without permission .
Parti cular ly note worthy is the fact that there were also sho ps under the name of Supreme , which were suspect ed to be not regular st ores , in major commercial facilities such as Bai lian Out let and Wanda Plaza . These st ores are using decor ations and log os that appear to be genu ine at first glan ce , which have been point ed out as potenti ally misle ading to the general consumer .
Chall enges of Brand Protection in the Chinese Market
The case high lights the difficult y of prote cting brand s in the Chinese market . In recent years , counter fe its and una uthor ized use have been ramp ant in China , target ing lux ury brand s and popular street wear brand s . Es peci ally popular brand s like Supreme tend to be easy tar gets for una uthor ized use due to their popular ity .
Exper ts say that even large commercial facilities such as Bai lian Out let and Wanda Plaza may be occ upi ed by una uthor ized st ores if ten ant management is in ade qu ate . From the perspective of consumer protection , more string ent ten ant v etting will also be required on the part of commercial establish ments .
Brand Response and Future Development
The group of companies that own Supreme have said they will step up their brand protection efforts in the Chinese market in the wake of the law suit . Spe cific ally , it seems that the company is planning to clearly publi ci ze the legitim ate st ores , speed up legal action against una uthor ized st ores , and conduct aw aren ess - rais ing activities for consumers .
More over , this case is no str anger to other international brand s . Global brand s operating in the Chinese market will be forced to r eth ink their own intelle ctual property protection policies . Street wear brand s , especially popular with young people , are likely to face risks similar to Supreme .
Po ints consumers should pay attention to
As a general consumer , it ' s important to determine whether it ' s a regular store . In the case of Supreme , there are only limited author ized sales st ores in China , which can be che cked on the official website . Also , if the price is un usu ally cheap or if you have doub ts about the quality of the product , it is wise to ref rain from buying .
Further more , even in large commercial facilities such as Bai lian Out lets and Wanda Plaza , it is necessary to recognize that not all ten ants are regular st ores . Develop ing the habit of consumers themselves che cking the brand ' s regular sales chann els will lead to the er adic ation of counter fe it products .