Judges in the UK's court of appeals yesterday demanded that Apple take down the statement it had posted to its website regarding its lawsuit against Samsung. Apple was reprimanded over the wording of the statement and ordered to change it. Judge Robin Jacob described the statement as a plain breach of the order. Cupertino was told to remove the statement from its website and post a new one within 48 hours.
The company has gotten step one out of the way -- last week's statement is no longer appearing on Apple's UK website -- but it hasn't yet posted the new statement. When it does, it will have to appear on the Apple UK homepage in at least 11-point font. So what will it say? Well, if an advertisement published in British newspapers is anything to go by, it will look a little bit something like this:
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 notinfringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the Highcourt is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html. That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.
The above appeared as a plain text ad in Friday's Guardian and was spotted by Tim Acheson. As you may have noticed, Apple has removed the paragraphs about courts outside of the United Kingdom finding Samsung guilty. The company has also removed details of the UK lawsuit, including quotes from the judge that the Galaxy Tab wasn't cool. Check out the picture of the ad, as posted by Tim Acheson on Twitter:
It's not yet clear if Apple will post the same statement on its homepage, but it seems likely. Keep an eye out for it. It will be on the Apple UK homepage until December 14.