Apple was last week ordered to alter the statement posted to its website regarding its UK lawsuit against Samsung. Part of the order demanded that Apple also post the statement to its UK homepage. Previously, the statement appeared only as a link at the foot of the homepage. A judge last week demanded that Apple post the actual statement on its homepage in at least 11 point font.
However, though Apple complied with this request, it seems the company has sneakily found a way to ensure the statement isn't the first thing visitors to the site see when the load up Apple.com/uk. The text that appears on the bottom of the Apple UK homepage reads as follows:
On 25 October 2012, Apple Inc. published a statement on its UK website in relation to Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers. That statement was inaccurate and did not comply with the order of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The correct statement is at Samsung/Apple UK judgement.
That hyper-link leads to the same statement that we saw printed in the Guardian newspaper last Friday. However, CNet reports (via Reddit), that no matter how no matter how you resize your browser window, you'll always have to scroll down to see the message thanks to a bit of JavaScript code that ensures the iPad Mini image always takes up as much space as possible.
Redditors point out that Apple's websites in other countries feature a similar design, but the fact that Apple has already gotten itself into hot water over this statement makes it hard to believe the placement was an accident. On the other hand, Apple was never told that the statement had to appear 'above the fold' on its homepage, so one could argue the company is well within its rights to put it at the bottom of the page.