Swatch is suing for damages and the return of the watches, valued at $14,000 (£10,700), after officials seized 172 of its rainbow-colored Pride collection watches that were on sale at malls throughout Malaysia. Homosexual activity is illegal in Malaysia under both secular and religious laws, and is punishable by a prison sentence or corporal punishment. Swatch filed its lawsuit last month at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. The case is expected to be heard soon.
The watches were seized in May, according to Malaysian authorities, by the law enforcement division of the home affairs ministry because they had “LGBT elements.”
Swatch countered that the watches were “not in any way capable of causing any disruption to public order or morality or any violations of the law” in its case.
The corporation added that its “business and trading figures also suffered in the immediate aftermath of the seizure for some time” after the seizures had hurt its reputation in the market.
Swatch described the Pride-themed watches as “loud, proud, uplifting, and bursting with meaning” in its advertising campaign.
The company describes the Pride flag as “a symbol of humanity that speaks for all genders and all races”.
The watches “did not promote any sexual activity, but merely a fun and joyful expression of peace and love,” according to Swatch’s lawsuit.
The Malaysian government and the home affairs ministry are named as defendants in the complaint.
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, the minister of home affairs, has not yet made any public remarks on the subject.
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