Apple Appeals To U.K. Court: Don’t Make Us Advertise For Samsung!

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Samsung claims Apple wasn't willing to settle out of court.
Samsung claims Apple wasn't willing to settle out of court.

A U.K. judge recently ruled that Apple has to pay for advertisements on its website and in British newspapers saying that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab doesn’t actually copy the design of the iPad. The order was given after the same judge ruled that Samsung didn’t infringe on Apple’s designs, noting that the Galaxy Tab wasn’t “cool enough” to be confused with the iPad. Ouch.

Apple advertise for one of its main competitors? Never! The Cupertino-based company has motioned to appeal the U.K. court’s ruling.

MacNN reports:

Should the original ruling survive the appeal, Apple might be forced to pay for advertising in several UK newspapers as well as on its own website advising the public that Samsung’s tablet does not infringe on Apple’s designs. Thus far Apple’s appeal covers grounds relating to the original claims of Samsung copying the design, but Apple would be within its rights to challenge the “penalty” Judge Birss imposed as unnecessarily punitive and an example of judicial overreach. Neither Apple nor the judges in any other previous or ongoing Apple-Samsung disputes has suggested a similar penalty for Samsung when it has lost.

Can you imagine Apple actually promoting a company like Samsung in any shape or form? I can’t either. It’s unclear if Apple will win the appeal, but rest assured that its lawyers won’t take this ruling sitting down.

Meanwhile, Apple has been granted an injunction that bans the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the United States. A U.S. appeals court just denied Samsung’s second attempt to get the ban lifted, and it looks like Samsung will have to design a workaround to keep from infringing on the design patent Apple is using to fight the case.

Source: MacNN

Via: TUAW

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