Apple has lost its appeal against a UK
ruling that Samsung had not infringed its
design rights.
A judge at the High Court in London had
originally ruled in July that the look of
Samsung's Galaxy Tab computers was not
too similar to designs registered in
connection with the iPad.
He said at the time that Samsung's devices
were not as "cool" because they lacked
Apple's "extreme simplicity".
Apple still needs to run ads saying
Samsung had not infringed its rights.
The US firm had previously been ordered to
place a notice to that effect - with a link to
the original judgement - on its website and
place other adverts in the Daily Mail,
Financial Times, T3 Magazine and other
publications to "correct the damaging
impression" that Samsung was a copycat.
The appeal judges decided not to overturn
the decision on the basis that a related
Apple design-rights battle in the German
courts risked causing confusion in
consumers' minds.
"The acknowledgment must come from the
horse's mouth," they said. "Nothing short
of that will be sure to do the job
completely."
However, they added that the move need
not "clutter" Apple's homepage as it would
only have to add a link entitled "Samsung/
Apple judgement" for a one-month period.
A spokeswoman for Samsung said it
welcomed the latest ruling.
"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."
Apple declined to comment. It can still
appeal to the UK Supreme Court, otherwise
the ruling applies across the European
Union.
Registered design
Three judges were involved in the Court of
Appeal review of the case.
Apple had reasserted its claim saying that
the front face and overall shape of the
tablets was the most important factor -
rather than the overall design - because
users would spend most of their time
looking at a tablet's screen and holding it.
One of the judges - who noted he owned
an iPad himself - explained why Apple had
lost the appeal in his ruling.
"Because this case (and parallel cases in
other countries) has generated much
publicity, it will avoid confusion to say what
this case is about and not about," wrote Sir
Robin Jacob.
"It is not about whether Samsung copied
Apple's iPad. Infringement of a registered
design does not involve any question of
whether there was copying: the issue is
simply whether the accused design is too
close to the registered design according to
the tests laid down in the law."
"So this case is all about, and only about,
Apple's registered design and the Samsung
products."
Sir Robin noted that Samsung's decision to
place its logo on the front of its devices
distinguished them from Apple's registered
design which said there should be "no
ornamentation".
He also highlighted the fact that the sides
of the iPad's design - which featured a
"sharp edge" - were significantly different
from those of the Galaxy Tabs.
In addition, Sir Robin wrote that Samsung's
designs were "altogether busier" with a
more varied use of colour on the devices'
rear and their inclusion of a thicker section
to house a camera.
International lawsuits
Apple has now lost a series of lawsuits
against Samsung based on the design of
their tablets.
These include cases in the Netherlands,
Australia and US - despite sometimes
winning temporary sales bans.
However, the California-based company
has been more successful with other
claims.
Most notably a US jury proposed Samsung
should pay Apple a $1.05bn (£650m) fine
for infringing several software patents, and
the look and feel of the iPhone. Samsung is
appealing the verdict
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