The decision comes after officials seized 172 watches from the company’s rainbow-colored Pride line, which is sold at shopping centers throughout Malaysia.

Swatch demands $14,000 (£10,700) in damages and the return of the watches.

In Malaysia, both secular and religious legislation make homosexuality illegal.

It is punishable by incarceration or corporal punishment.

Swatch filed its action in Kuala Lumpur’s High Court last month. The lawsuit is scheduled for hearing later this week.

Malaysian authorities stated that the timepieces were seized by the home affairs ministry’s criminal enforcement section in May because they included “LGBT elements.”

Swatch, on the other hand, said in its complaint that the watches were “not capable of causing any disruption to public order or morality or any violations of the law.”

The firm stated that the seizures had harmed its trading reputation, adding that its “business and trading figures also suffered in the immediate aftermath of the seizure for some time.”

Swatch described the Pride-themed watches as “loud, proud, uplifting, and bursting with meaning” in its promotional campaign.

The Pride flag is described as “a symbol of humanity that speaks for all genders and all races” by the firm.

Swatch said in its complaint that the watches “did not promote any sexual activity, but rather a fun and joyous expression of peace and love.”

Respondents in the action include Malaysia’s home affairs ministry and the Malaysian government.

Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Minister of Home Affairs, has yet to make a public statement on the situation.