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Apple loses UK appeal, must place ads saying Samsung is no copycat

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Apple just lost one appeal they certainly were hoping to have reversed. A panel of judges in the UK has upheld an earlier ruling that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab did not copy the design of Apple’s iPad. You might recall that at the time of the initial ruling, a judge made the backhanded statement that Samsung’s tablet was not as “cool” as Apple’s. You might also recall the punishment handed down, which ordered Apple to post notice on their website and in several publications explicitly stating that Samsung did not copy their designs.

The judges said that such an “acknowledgement must come from the horse’s mouth,” adding, “Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely.” The ruling could still be appealed to the UK Supreme Court, but it currently appears as though Apple has no plans to do so.

The results of the case could have much larger implications, as the ruling is valid throughout Europe and could prevent Apple from taking further legal action against Samsung based on this particular design claim. The decision contrasts recent developments in the US, where Apple won a $1 billion dollar settlement after bringing similar patent and design infringement claims in front of a California courtroom.

Samsung said of the ruling, “We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners. Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited.” Apple had not comment.

[via BBC]

Kevin Krause
Pretty soon you'll know a lot about Kevin because his biography will actually be filled in!

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45 Comments

  1. Take that Apple!

  2. Dear Crapple, BOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Judge Koh take note cause one way or another Samsung will appeal and embarrass you too. I can’t wait to see the UK Crapple site just to take a screenshot of it for some good laughs.

    1. Samsung won this part of the case in the US – They were shown not to infringe on the Apple patents with the Galaxy tablets.

  3. They were obviously not the first to design such a thing we had tablets as far back as early 2000’s if not in the 90s or earlier. I can point to several laptops running windows xp tablet edtion from as far back as the early 2000’s lol

    1. 1947

      1. oops 1957 i think.

  4. Please, please, please for the love of sanity, STOP showing androids app drawer like its the freaking home screen!!!

    1. This^^^^^ The author should know better.

    2. That was my thought too.

    3. Not only am I sick of it in the tech field but also the fact that Apple gets away with presenting it as the homescreen in all the court findings….. Why Samsung and/or Google has not called them on this is insane….

      1. On the flipside of this, at least in this particular image they look almost nothing alike whatsoever.

      2. Amen to that! Its called an APP DRAWRR for a reason. Stupid courts…

        1. You spelled the “C” word wrong…

    4. I know, right. ridiculous.

  5. Seems like the UK has got it right…yet here in the US, Apple continues to make ground in these RIDICULOUS lawsuits.

  6. Justice has been done! Also, as the other guy said, that isn’t the home screen on the Android in that pic ^ ;)

  7. Apple… Take your lies back to America… it would appear truth and justic is actually the British way

    1. Actually in the US, the Galaxy Tablet was vindicated as well.

      The $1B loss in US was mostly Samsung’s fault for providing a terrible defense. Hopefully they will get it right on Appeal.

  8. Hahahahahahahahaha I want to c it on apples web

  9. Awwuhh yeah! I really wanna see the ad, but Apple is probably gonna dumb it down a lot, or not market it much

  10. I’ve wondered what happened to this decision (and why I’ve never seen anyone else bring it up. Of course, I didn’t either!)

  11. Rectangular and rounded corners. Well apple mind as well sue Acer for their Iconia tablets too. Very annoying. Fact is when it comes to development apple really is not that fantastic. A new iOS is simply the equivalent of a minor android update. they built a great customer base early years ago but sense thdn have not done anything new or spectacular.

  12. Kevin, please make sure you post screenshots of this once it happens.

  13. Huzzah! Glad there are still people that use logic a reason to come to a decision, not propaganda and manipulation. Now back to Nexus rumors.

  14. It wouldn’t hurt too, Apple if you called yourself a patent troll and that you have no innovation ideas left in the oven.

  15. People in UK, please please post the picture of this ad when it comes out. I’m sure it won’t be available outside of UK, so we must spread the word ourselves.

    1. Gladly, (I saw the news break & sent a tip in) if you want to see the story in video here is a link to http://news.sky.com where I saw it (please delete if this is breaking any rules) the irony is that they use the iPad heavily on the channel :-)

  16. Hmmm… post a notice on a website or pay a billion dollars? I think I know who is winning here.

    1. Yeah, Samsung! That’s what the title of the article says.

    2. That Billion is not final yet.

  17. That is an awesome punishment.

  18. Haha lmfao

  19. HA! No one expected this supremely logical decision to STAND. Well, for once justice prevails.

  20. I don’t know. If I’m Samsung, I’m a little worried about this. Apple has a lot of very talented artists who, I’m sure, could come out with a great non-apology apology that essentially works as an unabashed Apple ad.

  21. I was about to pull you up on “UK supreme court” for a minute there Kevin.
    Thankfully I checked first, seems we’ve had one for 3 years now :o

    It amazes me (even if the cali court was biased) how differently our two courts can find similar cases when our socio-economic and judicial systems are so similar.

    1. The case in California was a jury trial, so that changes things a bit. Judges are better informed about the law. Given some of the revelations about the jury foreman, an appeal could overturn the verdict.

      1. Yeah I have heard all sorts of things about when people are doing jury duty. And it is always about how they think idiotically. A lot. Serz face.

        Whatever perpetuates that needs to be fixed now.

  22. I can see it now, Apple will turn what’s supposed to be an apologetic ad into a ‘look how unique the iPad is’ ad and/or use what the judge said about the cool factor.

  23. PhAndroid stop using that f#cking picture….you’re just trying to rile us up now…

    1. How does that rile one up?

  24. Oh my gosh!! Screenshots must be taken!! Apple is going to get a massive overload on their website when this happens. Watch it be like impossible to find. But I think that would go against the ruling. Doesn’t have to be on the Homepage? Muahahahahaa!! I cannot wait to see this. I hope it falls on my birthday this year. =.P

  25. Take that B……. h ….its Uk not America….
    we have clean Justice System here

    1. Haha

  26. loloololol i can only laugh. I’m going to enjoy this
    -Androider from London!! XD

  27. The advert has to be approved by Samsung and the Court as well as Apple so that should prove interesting!

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