“In this morning’s Guardian, Apple has taken out a small advertisement, including the same statement that it ran on its website, but minus the additional commentary that originally got the company into trouble,” Matt Brian reports for TNW. “It also appears to have been printed in 14-pt Arial font, as required in the original ruling.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s newest “apology,” verbatim:
On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the High court is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.
That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.
Apple’s original “apology,” verbatim:
On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the High court is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.
In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:
“The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design.”
“The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but 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.”
That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.
However, 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 U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.
MacDailyNews Take: The UK judge – Colin Birss – who ordered this stoke of idiocy remains a bloody joke.
Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:
Related articles:
UK judge orders Apple to rewrite website apology for uncool Samsung – November 1, 2012
Apple posts public apology to Samsung in UK – October 26, 2012
UK court upholds judgement: Samsung tablet does not infringe on Apple’s iPad designs because it’s ‘not as cool’; Apple forced to run ads saying Samsung did not copy iPad – October 18, 2012
Look carefully at the wording of the apology. The case was NOT about whether Samsung copied the iPad itself. Instead, Apple was claiming that Samsung had infringed a particular registered design. The court made clear that the iPad itself may not have been the same as the registered design.
They said this, the judgment is at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html:
3. Because this case (and parallel cases in other countries) has generated much publicity, it will avoid confusion to say what this case is about and not about. It is not about whether Samsung copied Apple’s iPad. Infringement of a registered design does not involve any question of whether there was copying: the issue is simply whether the accused design is too close to the registered design according to the tests laid down in the law. Whether or not Apple could have sued in England and Wales for copying is utterly irrelevant to this case. If they could, they did not. Likewise there is no issue about infringement of any patent for an invention.
4. So this case is all about, and only about, Apple’s registered design and the Samsung products. The registered design is not the same as the design of the iPad. It is quite a lot different. For instance the iPad is a lot thinner, and has noticeably different curves on its sides. There may be other differences – even though I own one, I have not made a detailed comparison. Whether the iPad would fall within the scope of protection of the registered design is completely irrelevant. We are not deciding that one way or the other. This case must be decided as if the iPad never existed.
5. Other disputes between the parties in other countries have concerned other intellectual property rights. We are not concerned with any of them.
Right, thanks for that.
Is that why they don’t mention the iPad at all in the notice?
Are Apple wigs possibly getting bad legal advice from Apple legal dept.?
MDN, please! Calling the judge a joke is disgracefull!!!
Don’t you know that Britain has some of the best judges that money can buy!!!
Again, the reason for the American Revolution is obvious.
Simple solution: Boycott Samsung consumer products.
Yes, America wanted to keep using the imperial system instead of the silly French-backed metric system.
And then they invented a US pint, because the imperial pint was too much for the Yanks to handle :-p
Yeah that metric system, it’s really dumb huh? I guess most of the world must not be as smart as us?
Nope. The rest of the world moved to a superior system, often dropping the old system entirely, despite the initial growing pains. Apple users should be used to that. It’s PC users who cling to the past.
It’s not about ‘the past’ — everything we have came from the past (either the distant past or the recent past). The issue is standards. If you don’t believe in them, stop using dollars, the alphabet and the calendar. Drive on the left side of the street. Bump into a PC user.
If you believed in standards you’d be using metric. That’s the global standard, used by the vast majority of the world’s countries and population.
Imperial is a “standard” the same way PS/2 and serial ports are a standard–old and still useful in some cases, but used by a a minority of computers.
If you didn’t move ahead, you’d also be still using a pound and shilling-type system, not metric-principle (i.e. base-10) dollars.
Standards change. Apple is often the driving force behind them in the tech world. Isn’t our favourite argument whenever someone complains about Apple limiting or entirely dropping some tech standard (floppy, optical drive, Ethernet, hard drives, physical mobile keyboards), to embrace change, that the benefits of the new outweigh its negatives? Some are even told derisively to hold on to their PS/2 connectors and SCSI hard drives, or buy the more expensive model if they want certain options (e.g. latest iMac, only the larger, more expensive model can have RAM installed by the user).
Tsk tsk. A pity more Americans can’t follow the fine example of their most valuable company (often called innovative here) in the rest of their daily lives.
Anyway, I’m laughing at how butthurt some of you are over what was a humourous response to a comment that was over-the-top to begin with (“reason for the American revolution is obvious”).
Too bad post-revolution America recreated the very political/legal mess it revolted over.
Still embarrassed – no, ashamed – to be British by the unfathomable idiocy of this blind, moronic judge! God help us!
Apple has to be careful not to have a Ballmeresque “To Heck With Janet Reno” moment. This would take the company down faster then you could even say “Browett”
After reading it, I don’t see how it really punishes Apple or helps Samsung.
If anything, Apple should’ve put the word iPad in there multiple times. People would see iPad, iPad, iPad, and think, “I need an iPad!” Of course, now they see “Galaxy Tab” and think, “I need an iPad!”
Personally, I think Apple made a clever move, with the first ‘apology’ and the final second ‘apology’.
They figured there was a good chance the first one would get thrown out, but they garnered some nice points against Samsung. They made a few jokes, at the expense of the judge and Samsung. I’m sure plenty of people read this apology, had a smile at the veiled sarcasm and moved on. All in all a neat first swipe at the ball.
The second apology reads very boring and will most likely be ignored by the vast majority.
Believe me, I’ve read a few blogs by UK barristers…they can be a wry lot, not averse to giving judges a sly side swipe with some of their comments.
Apple would have employed the best UK barristers, they knew EXACTLY what they were doing with both apologies.
Exactly well played by apple. First apology is what will be remembered and gets all the news. Second bland apology is just redundant and will be forgotten. First impressions are what count.
Required to be in Arial? How degrading: the Microshit ripoff of Helvetica.
Comic sans would have been a much better choice.
No, Verdana is the ripoff of Helvetica. Arial is just a suck font for the Internet and MS Office.
You have this completely backwards. Arial is almost a complete clone of Helvetica created by Monotype for IBM, and later licensed to Microsoft for inclusion in Windows. Search “Arial vs Helvetica” and try to tell the difference with your untrained eye.
Verdana is just a simple web font commissioned by Microsoft, and bundled with MSIE and Office. It’s relatively decent for some purposes.
I wonder when the Samsung asks mercy from the that judge and asks him not to ask any more apologies from Apple. xD
There is nothing to stop Apple from publishing an alternative and separate advertisement reiterating the coolness factor quote and other positive reviews.
Still embarrassed – no, ashamed – to be British by the unfathomable idiocy of this blind, moronic judge! God help us!
Don’t worry about it, just run up to Blubberhouses in N. Yorks, just outside Harrogate on the A59, to the Hopper Lane Hotel and have a coupla pints of O.P., all will be well afterwards!! A few too many and you can even rent a room and stay there!!
You don’t have Mitt Romney running for president. USA #1!!!!!
Yea this is ridiculous. This judge is a joke.