UK Court Orders Samsung to Pay Swatch $11.6 Million

Samsung Electronics finds itself in the midst of legal battles across the globe. A UK court has recently ruled that the tech giant must pay Swatch Group roughly $11.6 million in damages. This decision, reported on Aug. 26 (local time) by the Financial Times and other sources, stems from Samsung's distribution of smartwatch applications on its Galaxy App Store between 2015 and 2019.

These apps copied the designs and trademarks of Swatch Group's affiliated brands, including Breguet, Blancpain, Omega, Longines, and Tissot. The amount is about one-fourteenth of the initial $170 million sought by Swatch Group. During the legal proceedings, Samsung Electronics argued that the apps were created by third-party developers and removed promptly after the issue was brought to their attention.

They also claimed that the revenue generated from the apps was minimal, around $300. Judge Marcus Smith, however, deemed that allowing Swatch Group brands to be downloaded for free or at a low cost from Samsung's app store caused significant harm to the brand's property rights and degraded its value. The court's ruling is a step in calculating the exact scale of damages.

Samsung Electronics has acknowledged prior infringement in both a 2022 trial and an appellate hearing in 2023, and is now carefully reviewing the decision, potentially considering an appeal. The dispute is also ongoing in the United States.