Samsung in strife over Supreme Italia collaboration

South Korean conglomerate Samsung has partnered with a reportedly counterfeit business trading under the Supreme brand name in China by opening a new flagship store in Beijing.

An announcement made at the launch ceremony of Samsung’s A8s phone in the Chinese market has drawn scorn from the New York-based fashion brand for signalling its partnership with Supreme Italia, which appears to have taken advantage of Supreme NYC’s failure to trademark its trading name in the PRC.

The Italian firm uses an almost identical logo to the American brand that is protected by local laws, reportedly allowing it to see “legally fake” goods. A legal challenge mounted by Supreme NYC earlier this year was unsuccessful.

Samsung indicated its awareness of the legal wranglings between the two trademark holders in a statement that read: “We are collaborating with Supreme Italia, not Supreme NYC. Supreme NYC has no sales and marketing authorisation in China but Supreme Italia has obtained product sales and market authorisations in the Asia Pacific region (except Japan)”.

Supreme NYC has released an official statement clarifying that it is neither working with Samsung nor opening a flagship in Beijing, calling Supreme Italia “a counterfeit organisation.”

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