Swatch Group wants $170 million from Samsung over watch faces
Swatch Group is seeking $170 million in damages from South Korean tech giant Samsung in London’s High Court.
The lawsuit represents the largest-ever trademark case of its kind in the UK, with the long-running battle concluding its damages trial today, where a final ruling is expected from Mr Justice Marcus Smith.
The disagreement between the two companies centres on 26 digital ‘watch face’ apps available on the Samsung Galaxy App Store between 2015 and 2019. Swatch alleges that these apps essentially allowed users to turn their smartwatches into digital replicas of its own brands’ Swiss-made dials.
The question of liability had previously been settled in London’s High Court back in 2022, when Samsung was found liable for trademark infringement — a decision which it appealed but lost. The UK courts ruled that Samsung was liable as a primary infringer, despite the actual software coming from third-party developers.
This current trial is focused on determining the extent of the financial penalty, with both sides naturally presenting different valuations. In a written submission to the High Court, Swatch Group’s barrister Daniel Selmi argues that the case involves a “large-scale appropriation” of carefully guarded intellectual property, with the $170 million figure — calculated by a valuation expert — representing hypothetical licensing fees across 10 distinct brands.
Samsung’s defense, reported by the Financial Times, argued that…” countered that the $170 million demand is “extravagant” and “departs from reality.” It claims that the infringing apps were obscure, free to download, and quickly removed once reported.
Because Swatch Group launched the lawsuit before the 2020 conclusion of the UK’s Brexit transition period, the London judge is able to award damages across the entire European Union.
On top of this, the UK ruling is expected to clear the path for a parallel claim by Swatch Group against Samsung in the United States.
As first reported by Reuters, Tissot CEO Sylvain Dolla noted in a 2025 filing that allowing prestigious luxury dials to be displayed on mass-market smartwatches “would kill the value of the fine Swiss watch.”
