V3.co.uk

Apple posts Samsung legal 'apology' on its website

Firm uses key "not as cool" comments from judge in posting

Apple logo
0 Comments

Apple has fulfilled a legal obligation to post details of a case it lost against Samsung in the UK High Courts on its website.

The case centred on alleged design patent infringements between the two firms, with Apple accusing Samsung of copying its iPad design.

However, judges in both the initial hearing and a subsequent appeal hearing disagreed, citing prior art as proof Samsung had not copied Apple.

As part of the ruling judge Birss ordered that Apple had to post notices in several UK newspapers and magazines, and on its website, informing consumers Samsung had not been found guilty of any infringements, to ensure consumers were not confused by the case.

On Friday the firm placed a link on the bottom of its UK website to a page explaining the details of the judgment.

Unsurprisingly the firm chose to focus on the judge's comments that the Galaxy Tab is "not as cool" as the iPad from his ruling.

"The Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool," they quote from the judgment.

Apple had appealed against having to provide this link on its website explaining about the ruling, claiming it was unnecessary.

Appeal judges said the huge media coverage generated by the "not as cool" comments would have rendered the explanation unnecessary, but rulings elsewhere, specifically Germany, which found for Apple against Samsung, meant the notice was required.

Apple used these victories in other courts as part of its statement too, in order to try and turn the legal order to its advantage.

"In a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A US jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over $1bn in damages," it said.

"So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognised that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung wilfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad."

Recent legal spats this week have seen both firms score victories, with Samsung winning out in the Dutch courts but Apple defeating Samsung in a preliminary hearing in the US with the ITC.

V3 Latest