“Apple Inc. was criticized by U.K. judges in a lawsuit with Samsung Electronics Co. for posting a notice on its website that was ‘untrue’ and ‘incorrect,'” Jeremy Hodges reports for Bloomberg.
“The U.K. Court of Appeal in London ordered Apple to remove the statement within 24 hours and place a new notice acknowledging the inaccurate comments. The Cupertino, California-based company was told by the same court last month to post the initial notice as part of a ruling that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets didn’t copy the design of Apple’s iPad,” Hodges reports. “‘I’m at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this,’ Judge Robin Jacob said today.
MacDailyNews Take: Uh, perhaps because you’re a blooming idiot?
“The decision is the latest in a lawsuit that dates back to a July judgment in which a London judge said the design for three Galaxy tablets didn’t infringe Apple’s registered design because they were not ‘cool’ enough,” Hodges reports. “The court’s initial order to post a notice was designed to correct the impression that the South Korean company was copying Apple’s product. Apple’s post, criticized by judges today, inserted four paragraphs including excerpts of the original ‘cool’ ruling and details of similar German lawsuits that the court today said weren’t true. The notice has created the ‘impression that the U.K. court is out of step with other courts,’ Henry Carr, Samsung’s lawyer, said in a filing to the judges.”
MacDailyNews Take: Said notion would be correct.
Hodges reports, “Michael Beloff, a lawyer for the company, told the court that the comments were in line with the original order. The notice ‘is not designed to punish, it is not designed to makes us grovel,’ Beloff said in court today. ‘The only purpose is to dispel commercial uncertainty.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple should run these idiots through the wringer – each “apology” will get ever-increasing attention, spotlighting the stupidity of the UK judges and painting Samsung as the slavish copier they so clearly are.
Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:
Apple’s original statement, verbatim:
Samsung / Apple UK judgment
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.
Source: Apple Inc.
Related articles:
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