Samsung is finally getting serious about its fake watch face problem
Samsung got into trouble recently when the Swatch group sued the company over downloadable watch faces in the Galaxy Store. Swatch alleged that some of the watch faces infringed on its IP (Intellectual Property) rights and sought more than $100 million in damages. Watch faces ripping off iconic brands and designs is not a new problem, but the lawsuit put Samsung on notice.
To tackle such IP infringements more effectively, Samsung has now tweaked its watch face registration policy and sent emails to developers notifying them of the changes. Earlier, the Korean company was very lenient and allowed developers to publish watch faces without any stringent checks and balances pertaining to IP rights. It has now changed the watch face registration policy from “open to closed seller” to fight IP infringements proactively.
New Galaxy Store Watch Face Service Terms
As per the new policy, only sellers who consent to the Galaxy Store Watch Face Service Terms are allowed to register a watch face. Sellers can consent to these terms after uploading the watch face binary file to the seller office. If the name of the watch face, tag, description, images, and other components infringes on others’ IP rights, then Samsung will suspend all the apps of the concerned developer and may terminate his/her account without prior notice.
It appears Samsung is suspending even existing watch faces from developers who don’t consent to the new terms. This is bound to have an impact on the number and quality of watch faces available in the Galaxy Store. On the bright side, developers can no longer copy popular brands and designs recklessly. Hopefully, this will encourage them to come up with new and original designs and make Galaxy Store a better place for all.
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I just dont get it. If you are a watch company that doesnt make any smartwathes, what damage can you get? People who are buyng rolex wathface for 5$ wont buy real rolex for 50000$.
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So by this logic, T-shirt makers should be able to put any brand’s logo on their shirts, as long as it’s not the logo of another T-shirt company. Sorry, but that is simply not how trademarks work. The owner of the mark owns the legal right to use it and to control whether and how others use it. No, stealing a mark and using it yourself is not advertising for the brand, either.
Yah but if your company doesnt make t-shirts, what damage can be caused by someone printing your logo on t-shirts and selling them? You cant lose 100 million bucks on something you dont even produce.
they have been doing this for months last time i try to use a Ken block animation and it had a monster logo on it they rejected because i did not had permission from Monster energy drink
Glad I got my Rolex, Tag, etc faces from Watchmaker when I did.
You can still find them quite easily, they’re out there! 😉
It’s difficult to control, there are so many watch face elements that might be copyrighted. Of course many people do make their own designer watchfaces for personal use. I’ve done it using various tools but of course it’s only for myself, I don’t sell them or even give them away. It’s definitely wrong to sell or, supply copyright designs. What I can’t understand is why these companies don’t allow it, as it’s great advertising for their own brand AND, they can supply the faces themselves and make some money on them. Many watch companies are struggling financially now with less… Read more »