In October, Apple lost an appeal against a UK court ruling that Samsung had not violated Appleās iPad patents. The ruling meant that Apple could not impose a sales ban on Samsungās devices in the eurozone That court ruled that Apple must run a statement on its website that Samsung had not infringed on Appleās patents and add a link to the UK court judgment. The purpose of the statement was to dispel notions that Samsung was a craven copycat.
The UK appeals judges said that only a statement from the horseās mouth, meaning Apple, Inc., could soothe any confusion in consumersā minds concerning Samsungās status from this ruling. The judges said that nothing short of an Apple statement could get the job done.
Using an American football analogy, Apple fumbled the ball, then got hit with a penalty and was ordered to replay the down by the UK court. Appleās initial statement clouded Samsungās status in the patent case. Apple added facts that the Cupertino company had won patent infringement iPad rulings against Samsung in an American court.
A Samsung attorney told the UK court that the Apple statement raised confusion about Samsungās ability to market its Galaxy tablets. He told the court that consumers might not buy Samsung devices because they perceived that the designs were illegal. The statement also created an impression that the UK courts are out of alignment with other court rulings. The attorney argued that the Apple statement didn’t comply with the order, and the UK court agreed.
The UK court told Apple that the purpose of the statement is not to punish but to soothe commercial uncertainty. Sir Robin Jacob threatened Apple CEO Tim Cook with an affidavit to write an explanation about why itās so difficult for a high-tech company to write a simple statement.
For now, Apple has the ball, but itās fourth down and the judges are watching.
Sam Jones, the author, has a free mobile phone but thinks that the big companies need to be less aggressive in the technology world.
This article is contributed by Sam Jones and posted by Rizwan Ahmad Author and founder of cyberockk.com, He is a tech blogger from India and he loves to share his thoughts by writing articles on this site to the different topics related to technology world,