Samsung to Pay Swatch $11.6 Million for Cloning Watch Faces

A London High Court has ordered Samsung to pay $11.6 million in damages to the Swatch Group for trademark infringement. The ruling follows a trial where Samsung was found guilty of allowing app developers to display clones of Swatch’s luxury watch faces on its smartwatch app store. While the sum is significant, it is considerably lower than the $170 million Swatch had initially sought. During the proceedings, Samsung argued that it owed only a nominal sum of $300, claiming the Swiss watchmaker had suffered no actual damage.

The court found that Samsung permitted apps to mimic the designs of several prestigious Swatch brands, including Breguet, Blancpain, Omega, Longines, and Tissot. Judge Marcus Smith remarked that the presence of these designs on Samsung’s "supermarket shelves," often available for very low prices or for free, was demeaning to the brands Swatch seeks to promote. The bulk of the damages was awarded based on the harm to Swatch’s interests caused by the display of its brand names on the Galaxy app store, regardless of the actual number of downloads.

The legal battle dates back to 2022 when the High Court initially found Samsung liable for infringements occurring between 2015 and 2019. Although Samsung did not develop the cloning apps itself, the court ruled that the vendor was liable because it controlled the app review process and marketed its hardware using these faces. Swatch reported that the apps in question were downloaded approximately 160,000 times in the UK and EU. Samsung has indicated that it may appeal the damages amount, while a similar case has also been initiated against the company in the United States.