Apple, one of today’s largest and well-known companies has followed an order by the U.K. High Court to publish a notice on its U.K. home page stating the court finding that Samsung did not infringe its patents. The link however was not posted with any remorse on the matter. Apple instead chose to use the notice as an opportunity to say its side of the story in regards to the controversy against its tablet rival.
On October 18 a U.K. High Court appeals judge ruled that Samsung did not infringe Apple’s design patents in the U.K., after an earlier ruling by Judge Colin Birss claiming that Samsung tablets weren’t as “cool” as the iPad.
As a result of this, Judge Birss originally ruled that Apple must run notices on its U.K. web site and in several U.K. printed publications stating that Apple’s patents were not infringed upon by Samsung and therefore did not break U.K. law. This notice must stay on Apples website for one whole month. Apple did try to apply for a stay on the ruling which worked until the appeal was lost last week.
So this morning Apples website was changed and updated with a small link at the bottom of the page with the title “Samsung/Apple UK judgment.”
In their statement, Apple turned what Apple’s lawyer called an “advertisement” for Samsung’s win into an opportunity to toot its own horn per say. Apple quoted Judge Birss’ conclusion that its products are in fact “cool” and the Samsung Galaxy tablets don’t quite meet the standards.
But it’s in the last two paragraphs of the statement where things get really juicy. In the paragraphs, Apple stated that a case in Germany concerning the same patent found that Samsung was “copying” the iPad design. Same thing goes for the United States where Apple was awarded more than $1 billion in damages. Comparing the U.K. case to others around the world, Apple came to the conclusion, “Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.”
The full text of Apple’s message reads as follows:
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 linkwww.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 linkwww.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.
