My Visit to the Fake Supreme Store in China that is Legally Trademarked

When I heard that there was a legal Chinese trademark in place to operate a Supreme store, I had to see it in person.  Our voyage to Shenzen is quite far from home, but only a 45 minute train ride from my current location in Guangzhou, China- or so I thought.  

According to Shenzen Daily, Shenzen plans to be a world class innovative city by 2035. One of the ways Shenzen plans to accomplish this is to strengthen the protection and use of the city’s intellectual property rights. The southern Chinese journal reports that Shenzen will improve rules and regulations related to intellectual property rights; and push harder against IPR infringement by raising the cost of IPR crimes. 

From the train, I went to a popular shopping area named Coco Park, in Futian, a district of Shenzen with lots of foreign brand stores. However, to no avail, I couldn't find the Supreme store. I asked the locals and foreigners in the area if they knew where the store was located, but to my surprise, not many people knew.

Now it was time to exhaust my Wechat groups. WeChat is a popular Chinese social media platform, i.e.,  the lifeline of China. I asked about 1000 people in my network if they knew where the store was and yet, nobody gave me a positive or definitive location. After a few taxi rides following promising directions, I couldn't find it.

And then I saw a young man decked out in Supreme. He wore the red signature backpack with the white logo, a white supreme shirt, and a black and white Supreme face mask (not sure if those exist). He was my last hope before I really gave up and went home. 

I asked him where the store was and he gave me directions to Nanshan, another district of Shenzen, twenty minutes away. Another taxi ride down and I got to another shopping complex named Coastal City and there the fake Supreme store sat on the second floor. Watch our experience inside of the Supreme store here. Watch our store experience here.  

For now the store is only selling sweat shirts and t-shirts but they will soon start selling hats, which were already on display as samples. 

As we know, China is no stranger to making and faking a lot of the world’s products and services. So if you plan to start a company and produce your goods, you may want to consider registering for a trademark here in China. But even then, IP registration may not deter another person or entity from infringing upon your intellectual property.

We spoke to Diana Shu of Guangzhou Huaao Intellectual Property Service to learn more about the process of filing for trademarks here in China and how a person or entity could still legally apply and register for a trademark in China for the same use, name, and purpose of a legally registered trademark in another country, i.e., The Supreme Store. 

Primarily, Mrs. Shu says that filing for a trademark in China is fairly easy. Any person or company in China can apply for a trademark in a specific category, so long as the special logo or phrase hasn’t been applied for before. So in other words, the early bird catches the worm. However, Supreme, the real brand does not have a Chinese trademark in China, giving the fake Supreme store an entirely legal trademark for the name, logo, and use.

Honestly, the rules of filing for a trademark are pretty similar globally. Further,  big brands that can afford IP registration and protection fees, typically register in many countries, especially countries they know their items will be counterfeited.  But even then, registration does not stop infringement, just ask New Balance. It took them 10 years to finally win a legal battle it had against a Chinese company for using its name and selling counterfeit New Balance sneakers. Read about it here.