Apple's snarky Samsung post not good enough for British judge
http://www.latimes.com/business/tech...,6877841.story
Quote:
We think the British-court-ordered notice on Apple's website that says Samsung did not copy Apple's patented tablet design is hilarious, but the judge isn't laughing.A British court has given Apple 24 hours to remove the statement from its website, and 48 hours to post a new one, the BBC reports.
Apple asked for 14 days to write a new statement, but the court refused.
"I would like to see the head of Apple make an affidavit setting out the technical difficulties," said Judge Robin Jacob, Bloomberg reports. "...This is Apple. They cannot put something on their website?"
The original statement, ordered by the High Court of Justice of England on Oct. 18, was supposed to be a simple one that clarifies the court's finding that the design of three of Samsung's Galaxy Tablet computers does not infringe on Apple's patented design.
Apple, complied, but with a twist. In the original notice posted on its website, the company lays out the court's findings in the first paragraph, but also includes some additional paragraphs that display a certain...um...feisty attitude.
The statement includes two paragraphs pulled directly from the court's ruling that say that Apple's design is cooler than the Samsung design.
The company then goes on to say that a German court found that Samsung did copy the iPad design. And that a U.S. jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design.
The original statement concludes:
So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad.
"I'm at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this," Jacob said, according to the BBC. "It is a plain breach of the order."
In addition to writing a new notice, the court has ordered Apple to link to the new notice on its homepage. The company must also publish notices with details of the ruling in British newspapers and trade magazines, the BBC reports.
Personally, I find this hilarious :D.
On a more serious note, although I think all these companies are making a complete mess with these patent suits - I find this judge's ruling to be completely outrageous. I think his ruling is a disgusting infringement of freedom of speech. Shouldn't Apple be allowed to have the opinion that Samsung copied them whether it's the popular opinion or not? The judge told Apple to post something on their website. No government owns Apple, so how dare a government proceed to tell Apple exactly what to post on their website. Apple believes Samsung did infringe their patent, but now because of the British government users would be lead to believe that Apple believes the opposite. The internet should in my opinion be a haven of freedom of speech. I couldn't be more disgusted in the British government for allowing rulings which cause the British government to directly meddle with content on the Internet (which they do not own, should not own, and have no more business screwing with than any other government).
Not only that, but what in the heck happened to freedom of freaking press? The British government told Apple to post something on their website and Apple did, but Apple also posted saying they disagree with the decision. Since when has it ever been illegal to disagree with a government's course of action?! Perhaps David Cameron should get a judge to instruct every website exactly what to say and what not to say about the Conservative party :rolleyes:.
