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Infinite Loop / The Apple Ecosystem

Judge to Apple: tell UK consumers Samsung didn't infringe on iPad design

The judge said Apple is entitled to its opinion on his earlier ruling, though.

Apple's UK store may soon have a notice pointing to a court ruling over Samsung's lack of infringement on the iPad.

Greedo did not shoot first, Tupac is not still alive, and Samsung did not copy the design of the new iPad. That—at least the latter part about Samsung—is what a UK judge wants Apple to publish on its website and in British newspapers, according to Bloomberg. The order follows an earlier ruling saying that the Galaxy Tab series of tablets don't infringe upon Apple's European registered community design for the iPad.

Judge Colin Birss made a ruling on the patent fight between Apple and Samsung from the UK High Court on July 9. At that time, Birss made waves by declaring that Samsung's tablets "do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design," adding that the Galaxy tab designs were simply "not as cool."

Now, Birss says Apple must post a notice to its UK website that outlines the July 9 decision, and the notice must remain on the site for six months. Additionally, Birss wants Apple to ensure that the notice gets published across a number of newspapers and magazines in order to undo some of the damage done to Samsung's reputation. Unsurprisingly, Apple's lawyer in the case, Richard Hacon, pushed back on the order by arguing that Apple would essentially be forced to advertise for Samsung. "No company likes to refer to a rival on its website," Hacon told the court, according to Bloomberg.

Things could have been worse for Apple—Samsung had requested an injunction that would stop Apple from making any kind of public statement implying that Samsung had indeed ripped off the iPad. Birss denied that request, pointing out that Apple is "entitled to their opinion that the judgment is not correct," but apparently held firm on his decision to make Apple publish the information about his earlier ruling. As such, we expect Apple to do something similar to what it did when an Italian court ruled that it must offer two years of warranty service to Italian consumers. The company linked to a court document at the top of its online store page but left any further commentary on the table.