According to online news website TorrentFreak, Richemont, Swatch Group, Omega, Fossil and Tissot are amongst those that have banded together in a fight against the digital piracy of their watch faces.
The news site reported that cease and desist notices had been issued to a number of websites and individuals believed to be involved in the development and/or distribution of downloadable watch face designs that could be used on customisable smartwatches such as Motorola’s Moto360 and the Samsung Galaxy Gear series.
The websites in question essentially allow users to download virtual replicas of famous faces – often designed and uploaded to the site by independent software developers – that can be incorporated into smartwatches. Many of the faces emulate the look of other celebrated mechanical models such as the Rolex Oyster Perpetual and the Omega Seamaster.
TorrentFreak reported that notices issued by Richemont – the parent company for luxury watch brands including Cartier and IWC Schaffhausen – cited trademark breaches and demands for infringing material to be removed within a 24-hour timeframe.
According to the article, at least one website owner had been happy to oblige the cease and desist order.
The owner of distributing website facerepo.com, who was only identified as “Luke”, told TorrentFreak, “Although some of the replica faces we’ve received take downs [notices] for are very cool looking and represent significant artistic talent on the part of the designer, we believe that owners of copyrights or trademarks have the right to defend their brand.
“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,” he added.
Luke was also said to have implemented measures to notify users that their content may be infringing on copyright, and to block repeat offenders from uploading to the website.
As previously reported by Jeweller, Richemont won a separate online battle in October whereby it was granted a court order to compel internet service providers to block access to websites selling counterfeit jewellery and watches.
Jeweller approached Richemont regarding its trademark violation concerns for digital smartwatches, but the company declined to comment.
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