Judge “at a loss” over the company’s stubbornness to properly acknowledge ruling

Nov 1, 2012 13:56 GMT  ·  By

Apple has been ordered to pull an “incorrect” statement regarding a UK court ruling that deemed Samsung tablets as non-infringing on the design of the iPad. The Cupertino giant will now have to post a new statement, front-page, with an 11-point font.

At the court’s request, Apple initially posted a statement regarding the “Samsung / Apple UK judgment” in which it emphasized that Samsung’s tablets are “not as cool.”

The document – still active on Apple.com at the time of writing – explains how the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the products in question.

“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.”

Another point made by the judge is that, “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,” the judge said, and Apple was careful to include this in its statement.

Apple uses this quotation as an admission that Samsung’s tablets are not direct copies of the iPad.

The Cupertino company seemingly further tucks away the actual purpose of the statement by mentioning cases tried in Germany, and the US where Apple had prevailed.

The U.K. Court of Appeal in London has now ordered Apple to remove said statement within 24 hours and place a new one acknowledging the inaccurate wording, according to Bloomberg.

“I’m at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this,” Judge Robin Jacob said today. “That is a plain breach of the order.”

Apple will reportedly have to make it double-clear now that Samsung Galaxy tablets don't copy the iPad (in the UK's view), according to the decision.