Apple has lost its court battle with Samsung in the UK over its tablet design.
The High Court in London ruled that Samsung has not infringed Apple’s registered design for theiPad. Apple appealed the decision, originally made in July, related to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, 8.9 and 7.7.
The verdict made in July stated that Samsung’s products were ‘not as cool’ because they lacked the ‘extreme simplicity’ of Apple’s. “So this case is all about, and only about, Apple’s registered design and the Samsung products. The registered design is not the same as the design of the iPad. It is quite a lot different.” the court said.
The previous decision still stands which states Apple must run advertisements to publicise the fact Samsung didn’t copy the iPad.
Samsung 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.”
“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 declined to comment on the issue. At an event scheduled for the 23 October, Apple is expected to unveil an iPad Mini to take on smaller and cheaper tablets like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) and Google’s Nexus 7.
