Could Apple’s ‘apology’ be in contempt of court?
This week Apple put its reluctant apology to Samsung on its site, making a point of how the judge deemed Samsung’s products simply not “cool enough” to have been copied from the “cool” Apple designs.
But it has been suggested by some that the cynicism of Apple’s statement, which rather than correcting the damaging impression that Samsung copied the designs seems to suggest they simply didn’t copy it well enough, could be in contempt of court.
Is this plausible? The Drum spoke to Paul Jonson, head of Dispute Resolution, who said: “I have read this and have been following the Apple V Samsung battle for some time.
“I would be very surprised if the "apology" was seen to be in contempt of the court order. Courts are generally reluctant to find parties in contempt of court if there are arguments both ways.”
He continued: “Here Apple has used the ‘apology’ to reiterate some of the flattering comments about its products from the judge's findings. With billions of pounds of revenues at stake, it is perhaps not surprising that Apple wanted to have the last word for now.
“It is worth bearing in mind that the ‘apology’ will have been through across the desks of lawyers prior to ending up being published. Whether Samsung accepts the wording remains to be seen.”