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Apple this week lost a patent appeal in the U.K., which means Cupertino will now be forced to publicly state that Samsung did not copy the iPad with its Galaxy lineup of tablets.
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Apple this week lost a patent appeal in the U.K., which means Cupertino will now be forced to publicly state that Samsung did not copy the iPad with its Galaxy lineup of tablets.
As noted by Reuters, the U.K.'s Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision, which found that Samsung did not infringe on Apple's design patents with its Galaxy Tab tablet - partly because the Tab was "not as cool" as the iPad.
In July, Judge Colin Birss of the High Court ordered Apple to post a note on its website and publish an ad in magazines and newspapers to say that Samsung did not rip off Apple when it designed its tablets. Not surprisingly, Apple was not pleased and appealed the decision, so its public apology was delayed. But it appears the ads will indeed run, unless Apple takes the case to the U.K. Supreme Court.
"We welcome the court's judgment, which reaffirmed our position that our Galaxy Tab products do not infringe Apple's registered design right," a Samsung spokesman said in a statement. "We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple's registered design features can be found in numerous examples of prior art. 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."
Samsung did not have any details about when Apple will be required to run the ads. Fortune, however, reported that Cupertino will be required to run the ads in 14-pt. Arial, a font option that might not please the aesthetically obsessed Apple.
In the U.S., a California jury also found that Samsung did not infringe on Apple's iPad design patent, but it did find Samsung guilty of infringing on a number of other patents, resulting in a whopping $1.05 billion in damages. Samsung and Apple have been battling over patents since April 2011 and Samsung has had some success in the U.K., but Apple has largely prevailed in regions like Germany and the U.S. Full Story |
