Samsung considers appealing UK ruling over Swatch watch face suit

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it is considering “all possible countermeasures, including an appeal” to a U.K. high court’s decision to pay Swatch Group $11.6 million in damages for hosting smartwatch watch face designs that replicated the Swatch brands on its Galaxy app store. “We are carefully considering the High Court's judgment and will consider all possible countermeasures, including an appeal,” Samsung said in a statement. The High Court in London ruled on Wednesday (local time) that Samsung should pay the damages to the Swiss watchmaker as watch face apps developed by third parties have copied watch face designs of Swatch brands such as Breguet, Blancpain, Omega, Longines and Tissot. The damages were far less than $170 million (235.7 billion won) damages that Swatch Group initially sought, but far higher than Samsung’s claim that it gained only $300 by selling the watch face apps and Swatch did not suffer any damage. According to local media reports, the court majority of the damages were caused specifically for display infringement that harmed Swatch’s interests