Court to set €170 million damages in Swatch-Samsung case

A London court is now determining the financial penalty for Samsung after the tech giant was found liable for trademark infringement over smartwatch faces that mimicked designs from Swiss watchmaker Swatch. The hearing, which began this week, centers on Swatch's demand for 170 million euros in damages.

The legal dispute originated in 2019, when Swatch sued Samsung in the United Kingdom, alleging that third-party apps available on Samsung's wearable platform allowed users to download watch faces that closely replicated designs from Swatch-owned brands like Omega, Tissot, and Longines. Swatch argued these digital faces misled consumers by presenting themselves as cheap copies of exclusive designs. The High Court in London ruled against Samsung in 2022, finding trademark infringement, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision in late 2023.

With liability established, the current proceeding focuses solely on calculating damages. Swatch's claim of 170 million euros is based on an estimate of the license fees it would have charged Samsung across ten of its brands for the period from October 2015 to February 2019. The company states the infringing watch faces were downloaded...