Apple slapped by UK judge on statement over Samsung case
APPLE was yesterday reprimanded by a British judge for posting an inaccurate statement on its website associated with a UK Court of Appeal ruling that concluded arch-rival Samsung’s tablet device did not copy the iPad.
After Apple lost an appeal last month against an earlier High Court ruling that Samsung had not copied the iPad’s design, the company was told to issue the statement acknowledging the trial’s outcome.
Samsung subsequently claimed that the statement was not appropriate.
Apple had acknowledged the case on its website, but had also pointed to cases it had won against Samsung in other countries, including the US, where Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $1.05bn (£651m) in August.
The statement ended: “While the UK court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognised that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.”
The company will now be forced to put up an amended version within 48 hours, even though Apple asked for two weeks to alter it.
Judge Robin Jacob told the court: “I am at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this.”
Apple has also been told to run statements in British newspapers.