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Samsung Embarrassingly Partners With Fake Supreme (droid-life.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Droid Life: Samsung was doing its song and dance in China today at an event where they announced the Galaxy A8s, their first phone equipped with an Infinity-O display, only to pause midway to announce a new partnership. Samsung claimed to be partnering with iconic streetwear brand Supreme. They invited a couple of gentlemen on stage to talk about the deal, including plans for Supreme to enter China next year with a big flagship store. The thing is, those dudes don't work for Supreme and Supreme has no presence in China, nor do they plan to head there next year.
Samsung appears to have been duped by a fake Supreme company or just doesn't care that anyone who pays attention to fashion will mock them for decades to come over this partnership. The Supreme that Samsung is partnering with is actually called Supreme Italia, which is a fake Supreme brand that is able to sell fake Supreme gear, thanks to some weird legal loophole or decision in Italy. They have no affiliation with the real Supreme. They are counterfeiters. As for the Galaxy A8s, it too hasn't been very well received. Not only is it the first Samsung phone without a headphone jack, but it has a laser-drilled hole in the display for the front-facing camera sensor. It's not quite as obstructive as the iPhone X notch, but it still leaves a noticeable hole in the top left corner of the display.
Samsung appears to have been duped by a fake Supreme company or just doesn't care that anyone who pays attention to fashion will mock them for decades to come over this partnership. The Supreme that Samsung is partnering with is actually called Supreme Italia, which is a fake Supreme brand that is able to sell fake Supreme gear, thanks to some weird legal loophole or decision in Italy. They have no affiliation with the real Supreme. They are counterfeiters. As for the Galaxy A8s, it too hasn't been very well received. Not only is it the first Samsung phone without a headphone jack, but it has a laser-drilled hole in the display for the front-facing camera sensor. It's not quite as obstructive as the iPhone X notch, but it still leaves a noticeable hole in the top left corner of the display.
So, what is the loophole? Because honestly, that sounds far more interesting to me.
Looks like it's as simple as an entprising group in Italy registered the trademark there before the American company realised or bothered with the rest of the world. (It's hardly a tricky trademark). Unfortunately for these people, for many people "Supreme" is nothing more than a logo and a brand. That's it.
Supreme Italia, aka Supreme Barletta, seems to be a real company that simply bet the NYC company to the punch when it came to registering Futura Heavy Oblique White on a Red Box with the word Supreme within Italy. Presumably, the American firm has ignored them on the grounds that Italy isn't a major player in the streetwear scene, and they're wary of the Strisend effect and do not wish to draw attention to it.
It looks like it's limited to Italy only though.
Anyone really know?
Yep. I've never even heard of this "real" Supreme company. Only insecure, superficial morons care about fashion.
Copyright and Trademark laws in Italy are very interesting, in that I don't think anybody there knows that they exist. And they're certainly not enforced.
If you've ever been to Italy and see an Italian school bus, and you have any concept of western copyright/trademark law, you'll instantly ask yourself when was the last time you saw a school bus painted with an array of Disney and Warner Bros. characters.