When Apple lost an appeal in the UK court last week which ruled that Samsung did not copy the iPad when producing their Galaxy Tab tablets, the judge ordered the Cupertino based company to post an acknowledgement on their UK site and in UK newspapers.
Today they did just that, though you can hardly call it an apology, which is likely what the judge would have wanted. Teach him to be vague with his rulings, eh. No, what Apple has done is point out why they lost the appeal and made it clear they don’t agree by highlighting cases they have won in the US (which resulted in the judge ordering Samsung to pay $1 billion in damages) and in Germany.
The latter was perhaps to be expected. The former is just funny. Read the full statement:
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 notinfringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the Highcourt 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.
So, even though Apple disagree with the ruling, they appear pretty pleased that the judge ruled there was no infringement because the iPad is “a cool design” whereas the Galaxy Tab is “not as cool”. Oh, and the link to this statement is a tiny little one at the bottom of their UK homepage, right next to that other useless link about their use of cookies…
Samsung must be fuming. Not that there is anything they can do about it. Apple have complied with the ruling. Just not in the way it was perhaps intended.
