Apple’s forced public apology in the UK goes live

Remember that story we ran about a week ago when the UK court said that Apple still must post a public apology on their website for 6 months about the Apple vs Samsung case? Well, it appears as though apology has gone live and – well – it’s more of a joke than we’d expected.

The statement starts off with a declaration of Samsung’s innocence, which quickly turns the other way -

On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic(UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do notinfringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001.

The page goes on to quote some lines from the ruling. First, on the Apple iPad:

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.

Then, on the contrary the speech about the Galaxy Tabs:

The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.

Those words are out of the ruling and it is understandable that Apple would point out that part of the ruling.  It does, in all honesty, put Apple in a good light. The Cupertino company then went on to compare the ruling to similar judgement in the US and Germany, where Samsung was dealt a blow. In particular, it makes light of the 1.049 billion USD fine that Samsung is now having to pay Apple for supposedly copying their rectangle with rounded edges patent. If I Apple’s parent, I’d be inclined to spurt out the oldest line in the books – ‘say it like you mean it.’

On another note, Samsung and HTC are supposedly gearing up to sue Apple for their own patents – namely for LTE connectivity.

If you follow this link then you can see the full ruling from the England and Wales High Court and you can check out apologies apology in full over here.