Deadpan, Apple lets the judge make the case for the iPad over the Galaxy
Following an English judge's orders, Apple has published a notice on its UK website, stating that the court has ruled that Samsung did not copy the iPad while designing its Galaxy tablet.
Galaxy v the iPad: Which one is cool?
But Samsung can't be rolling over with happiness - as the statement reads like a case for buying the iPad instead of the Galaxy.
Under the simple headline, Samsung / Apple UK judgment, Apple states, “On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001.”
So far so good . But then the statement goes on to publish what Samsung will find less appealing: The judge's comments on the rival devices calling the iPad "cool" and the Samsung "not as cool."
The judgment says, "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."
"The informed user's overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. 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 Apple statement also points out in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc.
Says Apple, "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."
Ouch! No word yet of when the newspaper ads , also ordered, will appear. Samsung must be looking forward to that.