It appears Apple won’t have to publicize Samsung’s Galaxy didn’t copy the design of their iPad, for now at least.Apple’s request to postpone a UK ruling has been granted by a London Court, giving it the opportunity to appeal an order forcing it to spruik its competitor Samsung on its home page and in mainstream publications.
How did we get here?
Earlier this month, UK judge Colin Briss ordered Apple to place advertisements claiming Samsung’s Galaxy tablet didn’t infringe the iPad’s design in major UK publications. The advertisements had to be “in a font size no small than Arial 14 on a page earlier than page 6.”
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The Wall Street Journal’s technology blog, All Things D, reports the mainstream publications included the Financial Times, The Daily Mail, the Guardian, Mobile Magazine, and T3 Magazine.
Worse yet, Apple was to link Briss’ order to the homepage of its EU websites for a year. Have you ever heard of a company spruiking its competitor on its very own homepage?
Method in Madness
Currently there are a myriad of companies suing one another over patent disputes, and although some merit the cost and time taxed on local judicial systems, others are trivial. Companies like Apple and Samsung have money and are unlikely to be deterred by a sanctioned payout, but pride and prestige are finite in availability, and this is what Apple would have been charged under Briss’ original order.
Printing notices in newspapers and publishing on your site’s homepage ‘you were wrong’ carries enough sting to make these companies think twice before they storm the courts.
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