And unfortunately, once the makers of copycat merchandise have the trademark rights in first-to-file nations, there’s nothing stopping them from building a shady business. The U.S., Australia and Singapore, for instance, award trademarks to the first brand to use them, while others, such as Spain and Italy, award trademarks to the first to file. First to FileĬounterfeiters who are profiting off of legal fakes today are doing so without much trouble simply because trademark law isn’t the same across all jurisdictions. Registering for Legal Fakes: First to Use vs. But beyond that, clothing and accessories are generally protected by trademarks rather than patents, which means that any company looking to make “legal fakes” has fewer regulations to get around. So why is the fashion industry ground zero for these dark doppelgängers? Well for starters, there’s a multi-billion dollar underground market for knockoff luxury goods. And then Palace, which is known for creating collections in limited quantities just like Supreme, started facing its own legal fakes in 2017-along with brands such as Thrasher, Kits and Vetements. Back in 2013, copycats filed for their own Boy London trademarks overseas, creating Boy London Italia. Still, there have been controversies around legal fakes before this case-and after it. The fashion industry has always been full of counterfeiters, but few have taken it as far as International Brand Firm (IBF), which has made notoriously concerted attempts to co-opt the logo, merchandise and overall brand identity of the iconic streetwear label Supreme (more on this later). For example, some countries award trademarks to the first entity to register for the rights, without needing evidence of actual use counterfeiters take full advantage of this to file their target trademarks, then they start manufacturing and marketing products that are remarkably similar to the originals. The producers of legal fakes are operating “legally” insofar as they’re exploiting flaws and ambiguities in existing legal frameworks. But it’s more than just passing off fake products-companies that secure pseudo-ownership of a trademark can impersonate a brand on many levels, from claiming the logo as their own, to merchandising with business owners, to opening their very own retail shop. ![]() Swiss art dealer Christoph Leon says up to 50 percent of antiques on the market are fakes.A “legal fake” occurs when impostors take advantage of loopholes in trademark law to manufacture an imitation of another company’s product and market it as their own. ![]() The film is a co-production from DW, RBB and SRF. In the documentary, DW reporter Sönje Storm follows the trail of the Spanische Meister and takes us on a journey through the secretive world of the antiques trade. We’re in the midst of a heyday for counterfeiting, he says. He’s working with Lehmann to give him insider knowledge. But Christoph Leon, an antique dealer from Basel, has decided to do something unusual. The art industry could have a lot to hide. This bronze head of Augustus could be a forgery by the Spanische Meister, who’s accused of smuggling dozens of counterfeits onto the market. The object was X-rayed at the Fraunhofer Institute using the most powerful linear accelerator in Europe to back up any accusations of forgery with a reliable scientific analysis. Lehmann was sent the artefact to examine in Halle as the first case of its kind. A Swiss collector, who wishes to remain anonymous, came to Lehmann with strong doubts about an “antique” bronze head of Augustus he bought on the New York art market for several hundred thousand dollars. Lehmann hasn’t made himself popular – people within the art trade and museums like to keep the topic of counterfeiting under the carpet. ![]() ![]() They’re said to have come from expert forger, the Spanische Meister. Archeologist Stefan Lehmann at the University of Halle researching suspected counterfeits. German experts have therefore dubbed him the Spanische Meister, or “Spanish Master”. No one knows who or where the perpetrator is, but they suspect the workshop to be in southern Europe, perhaps Italy or Spain. But Lehmann believes it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Around 40 counterfeits have been discovered so far in the industry, in collections and even in museums. This documentary follows archeologist Stefan Lehmann from the University of Halle near Leipzig, who’s been trying to track him down. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
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