Samsung-Apple Ruling: Apple Must Advertise Samsung Tablets

The Samsung-Apple patent case has produced a severe ruling, which may require Apple to suffer the humiliation of publishing ads on its UK website and in several major newspapers to inform consumers that arch-rival Samsung did not copy the design of its iPad.

The High Court ruling follows an earlier decision made this month by Judge Colin Birss that the Samsung Galaxy Tab could not possibly be confused with the iPad because it isn’t “cool enough.”

Apple has been allowed to appeal the decision, but if it fails, it will have to effectively advertise Samsung’s products on the Apple website.

Advertising the competition

Notices will be placed in the Financial Times, The Daily Mail, The Guardian Mobile Magazine and T3 and Birss said that the notice should be placed on Apple’s homepage for six months to correct any impression that Samsung was copying Apple products.

Birss stopped short of granting Samsung’s bid for an injunction that would prevent Apple from making public statements that the Samsung Galaxy Tab infringed its design rights, however. The initial ruling resulted from a request from Samsung for the High Court to rule that its tablet did not infringe Apple’s patents.

The worldwide Samsung-Apple legal war comprises numerous lawsuits over alleged infringement. Samsung has recently won a temporary stay of Apple’s preliminary injunction against the sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US, but not the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, although this was possibly because it has since been superseded by the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.

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