Apple loses copyright appeal against Samsung

18 Oct 2012

Consumer tech giant Apple will have to place ads in UK newspapers and magazines, explaining that Samsung did not copy its iPad tablet computer, following a ruling from The Court of Appeal. Apple will also have to link to the judgment on its homepage.

Lord Justice Longmore, Lord Justice Kitchin and Sir Robin Jacob ruled that even though parts of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab resemble the iPad, Samsung’s tablet does not infringe on the iPad’s design.

In delivering their ruling, the judges upheld the decision of Judge Colin Birss QC earlier this year that three Samsung Galaxy tablet computers did not infringe Apple’s registered design. At the time Birss said the Galaxy tablets were “not as cool.”

The three judges’ recent decision has been “welcomed” by Samsung, a spokesman for the company said.

“We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple’s registered design features can be found in numerous examples of prior art,” he said.

“Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited.”

Apple has yet to respond to the judges’ ruling.

Apple building image via pio3/Shutterstock.com

Samsung Galaxy Tab

The Samsung Galaxy Tab

iPad

The Apple iPad

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com