LONDON, Aug. 27 -- Samsung has been ordered to pay Swatch Group US$11.6 million (RM46.7 million) after a London judge ruled that digital watch faces offered through its Galaxy app store infringed trademarks belonging to some of Switzerland's best-known luxury watch brands.

The award follows a long-running dispute over third-party smartwatch apps that mimicked the designs and branding of Swatch-owned names including Omega, Breguet, Blancpain, Longines and Tissot, according to the Financial Times.

The ruling turns what might appear to be a dispute over downloadable graphics into a much broader argument about the value of luxury brands inside digital marketplaces - and the responsibility of the platforms that distribute them.

Swatch had s...