Following a U.K. High Court order, that ruled against Apple in an appeal against Samsung over design patents, the company has been forced to display a statement on the front page of its U.K. website. In the statement, Apple has been told to clarify that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – the tablet that according to Apple infringed the iPad design, actually does not infringe upon its design patents. The statement has been posted at the bottom of the Apple UK home page – in the smallest possible font. You should really have sharp eyes to notice the same. Anyway, you have ample time to read it as it needs to stay there for an entire month.
At the bottom of the page, you can spot a link that simply says “Samsung/Apple UK Judgement” and when you click on it, it opens up a page with carefully worded statements that also sort of tries to get back at Samsung.
Apart from this official “acceptance”, Apple would also need to issue simlar advertorials in leading publications across the UK to let the general public know about this. This is an excercise in order to correct the damaging impressions” that people had on Samsung because of the design infringement controversy and the subsequent lawsuit.
This latest judgement and subsequent action by Apple is amongst the many patent and design infringement cases these two companies are fighting out in courts across the globe. Samsung, which has already overtaken one time leader Nokia in terms of overall smartphone sales is now the number one mobile phones maker in the world. Apple, which started out with mobile phones only in 2007 has managed to gain the third place in just five years – and that too with just one phone model per year. in this scenario, competition is cut throat among these compaanies and they are taking all possible means to undercut each other.
That said, if you want to read the full statement, all you need to do is to head here.