  In its judgment on patent issue between Apple and Samsung the High Court of Justice of England and Wales in July this year had 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.
The judge Birss had ordered Apple to publish a notice on its website and in British newspapers admitting that Samsung did not 'copy' iPad. The court also directed Apple that it should remain on Apple's website for at least six months.
Apple did so but with a difference. The manner in which Apple runs the notice on its website reads more like an advertisement for itself than a kind of apology for Samsung.
Apple carefully chose the words to imply that the court’s ruling was not justifiable as in other parts of the world the courts thought otherwise.
It said on its website that 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.
Apple also used the court’s ruling to advertise iPad. It said that 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."
If this is not and advertisement for Apple, what else? |