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UK judge rules Apple has to post to its website that Samsung didn't copy the iPad

Published: Jul 18, 2012, 12:17 PM

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UK judge rules that Apple has to say that Samsung didn't copy them, on their own website

A couple weeks ago Apple lost a UK lawsuit against the Samsung Galaxy Tab, with the judge indicating that Samsung’s designs didn’t infringe on Apple's design patents. The ruling indicated that in part this was because Samsung's product design wasn’t “as cool” as Apple’s designs were. At the time it looked like Apple had pulled out a moral victory of sorts – after all, losing because of how much better your stuff looks can’t be all bad, right?

But it looks like the legal loss is getting a moral loss tossed in for good measure this week, as Bloomberg is reporting that the UK judge has ordered Apple to post a notice on its website and in UK newspapers that publicly acknowledge that Samsung didn’t copy the iPad. The notice apparently must stay up for the next six months.

Given how much mileage Apple has gotten out of the “all Samsung does is copy us” meme, this ruling has to really sting some of the executives in Cupertino. Still, when you decide to go thermonuclear on competitors you have to accept that sooner or later you may lose big as well. Not surprisingly, Apple wasn't available for comment on the story.