Apple offers arm-twisted mea culpa over Samsung case

Apple has posted its reluctant apology for the Samsung legal row in the UK online.

Earlier this month, Britain’s Court of Appeal upheld a High Court judgement that, despite some similarities, Samsung’s Galaxy tablets did not infringe Apple’s designs.

The judge found that Samsung hadn’t infringed Apple’s designs, in part because the Galaxy wasn’t as “cool” as the iPhone.

The judge ordered Apple to the naughty step and ordered it to offer a public acknowledgement that Samsung was right and Apple was in the wrong for pursuing the case.

Apple posting that acknowledgement today – but didn’t get anywhere near an apology.

The Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back

The company picked out and quoted the parts of the ruling that praised its own design while making Samsung efforts sound inferior, in effect turning the apology into a marketing opportunity.

“The Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back,” the acknowledgement – posted as a small font link on Apple’s UK homepage – reads, quoting the original ruling. “They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.”

UK out of step

Without actually criticising the UK judge – one Colin Birss – the response goes on to cast aspersions on the ruling, claiming the UK courts were out of line with legal rulings in the US and Germany.

“In a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design,” the statement read.

“A US jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents… so 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 wilfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.”