While enthusiasts and clever designers have been making cool digital replicas (like this one seen on Reddit), watch companies have been trying to block these digital copies from spreading.
Just like some street vendors make a living selling lookalike Cartier and Omega watches for cheap, some folks are selling — or even giving away — knock-off digital watch faces for Android-powered smartphones. And the watch companies are going after these people with the same zeal as they chase the “Cantier” and “Omego” sellers from sidewalks.
According to TorrentFreak, big-name (big-dollar) watch brands like IWC, Panerai, Omega, Armani, Michael Kors, and Mondaine are sending cease-and-desist notices to sites offering up lookalike and fake smart watch faces that are too close to the real deal.
In the UK, luxury timepiece biggie Richemont (the multibillion-dollar company behind Cartier, IWC, and Panerai) has gone to the ISPs of alleged offenders seeking to have certain sites blocked so that people with smart watches like the Moto 360 can’t get a cheap digital version of their brands’ pricey faces.
Meanwhile, Omega (owned by Swatch) has been asking at least one online forum to remove offending smart watch faces because they allegedly trample on the company’s “registered trademark, copyright and design rights.”
The operator of one site that offers smart watch faces admits to TorrentFreak that the replica faces “are very cool looking and represent significant artistic talent on the part of the designer,” but ultimately sides with the watch companies as they own the rights to those designs. “If a copyright or trademark owner contacts us, we will promptly remove infringing material. To date, all requests for removal of infringing material have been satisfied within a matter of hours.”
The topic of trademark and copyright for smart watches is only going to become bigger after Apple releases its wearable device in the new year. After all, Apple already knows the pain of using a lookalike watch face, having paid a reported $21 million to Mondaine for copying its well-known design for the clock in is iOS 6 operating system.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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