The Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch Group has won against the South Korean technology group Samsung in a London court: At the end of May, the High Court of Justice ruled that Samsung had infringed the trademark rights of the Swatch Group.
The court held Samsung responsible for the infringement of the Swatch Group’s trademarks by third-party smartwatch apps in the Samsung Galaxy Store, the watch company said on Whit Monday in a statement to the AWP news agency on a corresponding article in the “SonntagsZeitung”. The High Court has ruled that certain downloadable “Watch Face” apps from the Samsung Galaxy App Store that can be installed on the smartwatches infringe Swatch Group’s trademarks.
Samsung smartwatch wearers can download digital dials from the company’s app store to give their computer watch a personal touch. From the Swatch Group’s point of view, however, some of these electronic dials are too obviously based on their own watch brands such as Omega, Breguet, Longines, Swatch and Tissot. The group therefore appealed to the London Court of First Instance. He ruled that the intellectual property of 23 Swatch Group brands had been infringed.
In its statement, the Swatch Group welcomed the verdict: “We believe this is the only right solution for brand protection in the digital age.” (dpa)