Smart Watches and luxury wrist watches can’t really be compared in any way. They are totally different in every aspect, but this hasn’t stopped luxury watch manufacturers from chasing after third party users who are making replica faces of luxury watches for their smart watches. They are accusing these people of infringing on their intellectual property rights.
A report from the guys over at Torrent Freak have said that a certain amount of companies which make and sell luxury watches have come together to fight these websites which are designing and releasing customised faces for their digital smart watch which resemble the physical watch faces of the relevant company’s watch.
Richemont, a Swiss company which own Cartier and Panerai, is one of the companies spearheading this campaign. Other companies involved in the rights infringement campaign are Amani, Certina, Flik Flak, Mondaine, Michael Kors, and Fossil.
The collection of companies has sent a cease-and-desist notice to several of the websites that host these custom watch faces. One of these websites is known as FaceRepo, where users are able to upload the designs they have created for their own smart watches, in order for others to download and use them. The website have stated that will comply with any takedown notices, should the relevant owners of the watches approach them. “To date, all requests for removal of infringing material have been satisfied within a matter of hours.”
That doesn’t mean though, that FaceRepo has removed all infringing content. For example, a replica digital watch face of Patek Philippe’s $2.6 million grandmaster Chime is available to download on their website. The watchmakers take down requests are less likely to be a demonstration of their fear of smart watch makers than a legal obligation. If the companies do not pursue the makers of the replica smart watch faces, it may also become more difficult for them to pursue the makers of counterfeit luxury watches.
If they take their requests are taken to court the watchmakers will have more of a leg to stand on. Mondaine, a company involved in the cease-and-desist requests, had once taken Apple to court for using one of Mondaine’s copyrighted watch face designed for iOS 6. Mondain won the court battle and also $21,000,000 dollars in licensing fees.
