{
  "id": 3692365,
  "title": "Samsung hit with US$11.6m bill after smartwatch faces copied Omega, Tissot and other Swatch Group brands",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/samsung-hit-with-us-11-6m-bill-after-smartwatch-faces-copied-omega",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-27T06:57:40.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Malay Mail",
    "slug": "malay-mail-malaymail",
    "url": "https://www.malaymail.com/news/money/2026/08/27/samsung-hit-with-us116m-bill-after-smartwatch-faces-copied-omega-tissot-and-other-swatch-group-brands/232886"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "London's High Court has ordered Samsung to pay Swatch Group a sum of US$11.6 million after a judge ruled that certain digital watch faces offered through Samsung's Galaxy app store infringed trademarks belonging to luxury watch brands owned by Swatch. The ruling comes after a protracted dispute over third-party smartwatch apps that mimicked the designs and branding of Swatch-owned brands such as Omega, Breguet, Blancpain, Longines and Tissot.\n\nThe High Court awarded Samsung's \"store display infringements\" with US$10 million, emphasizing that the simple display of Swatch-owned brand names alongside cheap or free digital watch faces could potentially damage the value of those brands, even if users did not download them. The judge stated, \"The low price is demeaning of the brands the Swatch Group seek to promulgate.\"\n\nSamsung, which developed the apps in question, was found liable due to its control over the Galaxy app store's review process and its promotion of smartwatches through the variety and attractiveness of their downloadable faces. The dispute began in 2015 and led to a previous High Court ruling in 2022, which Samsung lost on appeal. This year's damages hearing determined the amount of compensation owed.\n\nSwatch claimed that the disputed apps had been downloaded approximately 160,000 times across the UK and European Union, describing them as \"knock-offs\" of exclusive watch dials and accusing Samsung of enabling a \"large-scale appropriation\" of trademarks that were valuable and carefully protected. Samsung argued that the damages claim was \"extravagant\" and had \"no relationship to the damage suffered,\" but it removed the infringing software from its store immediately upon being informed of the issue.\n\nSamsung is now considering whether to challenge the latest ruling, while Swatch accused Samsung of trying to downplay the seriousness of the infringement. Swatch has also initiated legal proceedings against Samsung in the United States, though those have been temporarily halted pending the resolution of the English case.",
  "summary": "LONDON, Aug 27 — Samsung has been ordered to pay Swatch Group US$11.6 million (RM46.7 million) after a London judg...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}