Judge Protects Cellphone Data On 4th Amendment Grounds, Cites Government's Technological Ignorance

Apple Publishes Petulant Non-Apology Apology To Samsung

from the you-don't-say dept

Fri, Oct 26th 2012 7:37am — Mike Masnick

As a UK court recently ruled, Apple's UK website is required to post a notice about the court ruling that Samsung didn't copy Apple's design with its devices. Apple has now complied with a tiny link in the page footer:

The notice itself is amusing in its somewhat passive aggressive tone. It first notes the court ruling, and then explains:

In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:

What kind of important points? Well, all the ones about how Apple's products are awesome, while Samsung's... not so much.

"The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design."

"The informed user's overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool."

And then... it reminds you that other countries have ruled completely otherwise:

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad.

In other words, it's the petulant Apple "complying" with the UK judge, while at the same time making sure to add a "but, but, but... the judge is really wrong -- other than the part where he likes our design."

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Filed Under: apology, cool, uk
Companies: apple, samsung

60 Comments

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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 7:48am

It almost makes you long for the days when Judges would haul idiots back into court and express his extreme displeasure.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 7:52am

If the design is so simple and everyone else has complicated designs then maybe patents are to blame. Everyone else is so afraid of violating some obvious patent that they have to unnecessarily overcomplicate every design in order to avoid infringement. This is good reason to abolish patents.
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DannyB (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 7:57am

Re:
Courts do not necessarily react kindly if they feel their orders have been interpreted, shall we say, too creatively.

The point of this order was to right a wrong.

It's one thing to engage in a patent lawsuit and lose.

It's another thing to engage in a patent lawsuit, go on a public rampage, damage the reputation of a competitor, and lose.

I wonder if the court would see this apology as trying to undo the damage Apple has done?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 7:58am

Meanwhile, in the real world, people still don't give a shit. All they want is a shiny toy to play with, and they could care less if it comes from Apple, Samsung or Nokia.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:03am

Lol at apple creating a clever way of doing nothing. They are a pretty terrible company as far as I'm concerned.
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Jeremy, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:05am

Apple has managed to turn technology into fashion
Clothing designers sue each other for infringing on each others esthetic designs. Technology companies actually try to innovate and compete with each other. Apple is therefore not a technology company, they are part of the fashion industry, and their childish litigious behavior in that industry is no different than models or designers in the clothing industry having a catfight. They are deliberately blocking innovation because they want to own all the esthetics/ergonomics as fashion. The worst part is, because there's no case for monopoly w.r.t Apple (as there was with Microsoft), they're going to be a thorn in the technology industries side for a long time.
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anon, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:06am

Re:
Cheap and decent quality, just like the nexus 7, I am sure a lot of other tabs coming this xmas. SO that counts out the �600 ipad and the �800 surface etc.I have a playbook and to be honest i dont see all the fuss about android, yes it has some good apps, but i use the tablet for email and to browse the internet. maybe play some angry-birds but otherwise it is a family device.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:10am

I guess it would be frowned upon by US judges if Samsung would in response pay their patent fine with a fake billion dollars "but, but, it looks as much like real money as our devices look like apple's. Looks are what counts, right?"
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silverscarcat (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:10am

And this...
Is why Apple will NEVER see 1 penny from me.
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Matt, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:16am

11pt Arial?
The judgement said the footer link should be no smaller than 11pt Arial. I make it 17% smaller than that:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/revsorg/8125051674/sizes/o/
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MrWilson, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:21am

Re: Apple has managed to turn technology into fashion
It's a rule of power/money hoarding: You don't climb to the top of pile just to start playing fair and if you played fair to begin with, you wouldn't have climbed to the top of the pile in the first place.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:23am

Re: 11pt Arial?
everything looks smaller on a retina display.
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Zane Stuart, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:33am

Petulant Apple
It seems Apple is hoping UK consumers aren't very smart. Has anyone mistaken a Samsung product for an Apple product or know someone who has? The judge, in that point of the suit, rightfully ruled against Apple.

Trying to point out rulings in other countries just makes it sound like Apple is whining. Patent laws differ from country to country and Apple's attorneys/solicitors should know better than to expect that every country's courts would rule in Apple's favor.
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The eejit (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:34am

Re: Re:
What's really hilarious is that you can get a better deal from some brands of notebook then you can from the iPad or Surface tablets.
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Trails (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:38am

Re: 11pt Arial?
Well spotted, it's 11px. As us CSS wonks know, px != pt and tends to render smaller, though not always (part of the dif is that pt sized text will scale with "zoom level" while px sized text typically will not).
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Michael, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:39am

Re: 11pt Arial?
Many men over-estimate size by about 17% pretty regularly.

This is perpetuated by women telling them that size does not matter.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Designerfx (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:39am

factually incorrect- microsoft technique
how hard is it for people to realize that apple + microsoft are pretty much working in harmony at this point and even employing identical techniques here?

"A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc."

Where they make a comment that isn't factually incorrect but is entirely misleading. Facebook and Oracle have been doing this too. Coincidence of the anti-google? Nope.

Do you think they're going to rewrite that statement when it gets overturned in the court or on appeal? Again, nope.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 8:40am

had Samsung done this sort of 'apology', as was wanted in a previous case, Apple would have gone absolutely ape-shit! strange how they take this action now the shoe is on the other foot. to me it just shows a further example of how childish Apple is. Tim Cook is showing what his mentality is like as well by listing the various 'we won here over this'. when Jobs was alive, God rest him, Apple was pathetic in the way it behaved. i bet he would be proud though if he was able to see that his company is still going down the same road he was leading it, ie, just as pathetic!!
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jupiterkansas (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 9:03am

My old iPod recently broke and instead of rushing out to buy a new one, I'm actually exploring other options. So far I've been getting by just fine using my LG phone and PowerAmp.

And it's only because Apple keeps being a douche with their lawsuits, proprietary cables, closed in systems, and ridiculously high prices ($150 for a 16GB music player).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 9:16am

Re:
Personally, I find that having a standalone music player is a waste of money now that I have a smartphone. There is one downside, though: battery life.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 9:19am

What would the world be like today had not Microsoft saved Apple back in the day?
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Rikuo (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 9:26am

Re: Petulant Apple
"It seems Apple is hoping UK consumers aren't very smart. Has anyone mistaken a Samsung product for an Apple product or know someone who has? The judge, in that point of the suit, rightfully ruled against Apple. "

That's trademark you're thinking of. This was not a trademark case, it was patents.
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John Fenderson (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 9:39am

Apple is looking terrible all around
Also, see the petulant comments made by Apple's CEO about Microsoft Surface: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/10/26/0232221/apple-ceo-likens-surface-to-car-that-flies-float s

Disregarding the technical merits of the comments, the tone of them is similar to the ad and makes Apple sound weak & scared. You'd think Apple could afford a decent PR person to help handle these matters.
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John Fenderson (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 9:41am

Re:
Roughly the same, but with one fewer obnoxious overbearing corporation.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 9:51am

It's like hitch hikers guide galaxy

"It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard".
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Anthem1 (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 10:00am

I'll give them points for creative use of the judges own comments in complying with the judgement. Regardless of what I personally think of Apple's tactics I find the response to be hilarious!

Where's your sense of humor?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 10:15am

Re:
humor? I'm not licensed to do that
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MahaliaShere (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 10:44am

Sounds like Apple belongs to the fruit family of sour grapes.
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Gregg, 26 Oct 2012 @ 10:49am

If the Patent Office was invented 1000 years earlier we would still be living in the iron-age.
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Divide by Zero (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 11:00am

Jeebus H Crust, Apple really are a bunch of twats, aren't they. This is why more people need to start boycotting them until they can just grow up.
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nasch (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 11:16am

Same or different?
So Apple is saying that their design is very different from Samsung's and way better, and Samsung should pay them bajillions of dollars because they copied it? OMGWTFBBQ?
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DogBreath, 26 Oct 2012 @ 11:42am

Re:
No real difference, except for a single letter.

The hipsters would be using zPods and zPhones.

(z = Zune)
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 12:26pm

As expected:

http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1717.html
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Keii (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 1:21pm

Is this an apology? I can't really tell, it looks like they copied an insult.
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UK Guy, 26 Oct 2012 @ 1:51pm

Re:
"I assure you, you'll be sorry you wasted your money on an iPod when Microsoft comes out with theirs."

Dr Sheldon Cooper, in the flashback-to-2002 episode of The Big Bang Theory.
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trrll (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 2:22pm

Wasn't apology, wasn't supposed to be
The judge did not order Apple to post an apology, just a notification that Samsung had been found not to infringing. I doubt if he was surprised that Apple's lawyers expressed it in a way that was favorable as possible to Apple's interest.
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DogBreath, 26 Oct 2012 @ 3:11pm

Re: Re:
In an alternate reality, Sheldon was absolutely correct. But now we have definitive proof that Steve Jobs traveled back through time and affected this reality. The Microsoft Zune is dead.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2012 @ 6:19pm

Is Apple going to patent or copyright publishing petulant non-apology apologies?
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G Thompson (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 10:49pm

Re: Re:
Thats exactly what I was thinking.

If we go back to the original order from the Appelate judge the order states that they have to state paragraph 1 and paragraph 5 of the "apology page".

The court specifically placed both of those paragraphs together. Apple in their infinite egotism has now expanded them and absolutely diluted the order. This smacks of contempt and Samsung hopefully will bring this to the courts attention. Though I fervently hope the court will do this on their own initiative now.

If Apple wanted to add condescending and hyperbolic opinion to the page afterwards they should of done it after the original ordered statement was shown. Though even that could be considered dilution of the order. This though is absolute intent to deceive.

I'm now wondering what they will be placing as advertisements in the MSM newspapers they were also ordered to place adverts in.
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G Thompson (profile), 26 Oct 2012 @ 11:05pm

Re: Wasn't apology, wasn't supposed to be
The actual statement from the Judge is found in the Judgement :
[87.] Finally I should say something about the notice itself. We heard no discussion about that. Plainly Judge Birss's Schedule has been overtaken by events. Subject to anything that may be submitted by either side I would propose the following:
On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited's Galaxy Tablet Computers, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple's registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the High court is available on the following link [link given].

That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on �.. A copy of the Court of Appeal's judgment is available on the following link [�]. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.
[88.] In the result I would dismiss both appeals but vary the publicity order as indicated or in such other way as may be agreed or settled by further argument. I would hope that any such argument (and any other consequential) arguments can be resolved by written submissions.
Nowhere in those paragraphs were the rest of the petulant paragraphs that Apple included, nowhere was there the possibility of them being expanded upon by inserting paragraphs between them.

The only thing mentioned is that the publicity order may be varied "in such other way as may be agreed or settled by further argument". Guess what? No other agreement or settlement was undertaken nor approved by any parties (well other than Apple itself it seems) so therefore the publicity order they have published is contemptuous.

I also notice the link entitled "Samsung/Apple UK judgment." (found at 85) has NOT been changed further showing that Apple has acted with contemptuous intent on the publicity order
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fish, 27 Oct 2012 @ 2:06am

Re: Re: Petulant Apple
You mean design rights
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Dave, 27 Oct 2012 @ 3:13am

Apple being childish
Well, they certainly have thrown their toys out of the buggy. I don't see an actual statement that Samsung haven't copied them, as ordered. Judging (joke - get it?) by previous Judge Birss cases, he's probably not going to like that. I get the impression that he probably thought the case was a complete waste of time and money anyway and was gently taking the you-know-what out of Apple.
High time that Apple accepted that there is a word called "competition" and items that do a similar job are bound to have a similar appearance as well. I don't hear Sony suing Toshiba because their televisions also have a screen and come with a remote control and neither do I hear Ford suing Toyota (or any other car manufacturer) because their product also has four wheels, seats and/or anything else that appears on most other cars. The whole Apple/Samsung thing is ludicrous. Most of what Apple sells can be purchased from other manufacturers to do much the same job at considerably less than the highly inflated prices that Apple seems to think they're worth. Beats me how Apple have managed to con. the public for so long that their products are somehow "special". Clever cult marketing - I'll give them that but, at the end of the day, I would hope that folk with any sense would see right through it. This little temper tantrum shows them up for what they really are. Rather like spoilt brats in my opinion.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Oct 2012 @ 6:48am

Re:
I'm educating my family and friends about the business model of Apple, and nobody bought any Apple product so far. Explain how Apple rips off customers and people will understand.

Long time ago Apple was a nice company, but now it's even more evil than MS.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Oct 2012 @ 1:15pm

Re: Re:
For me the appeal of android is that its not locked down by a multi-billion dollar corporation and I can alter it, customize it, legally distribute it, sideload apps on it etc, to my hearts content.

Its not really so much that I love android as I hate the closed nature of the alternative mobile devices. Walled gardens suck, and being locked into one is no better than any industry with an abusive monopoly player. 40 bucks for a power cord is absurd.
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Kevin, 28 Oct 2012 @ 2:08pm

Re: Apple has managed to turn technology into fashion
The fashion industry does not have patents. They can't sue each other over stuff like aesthetics. This is why clothing designers cover their clothes in their logo's so it's easily recognized as their brand. The abundance also make's the fabric harder to replicate for counterfeiters.
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LanceJZ (profile), 28 Oct 2012 @ 10:06pm

Re: Re: Re:
My 80GB Zune works wonderfully, thank you. The sound quality is much higher then my iPods (Was a gift). Zune is not dead, it just moved to Windows Phone 7.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2012 @ 10:34am

Be informed! Search Google, YouTube & Facebook for more information. Stop the Patriot Act & The NDAA!!!

http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/issues/civil-liberties
[ link to this | view in thread ]
viatek, 22 Aug 2013 @ 10:28am

like this gadget
one of the best gadget I've ever used. with the support of good features and specifications established allow its users to perform various activities.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
teknosatu, 6 Sep 2013 @ 1:06pm

Like Apple
Apple often mentioned working on the latest generation iPhone. Reportedly, the technology giant from Cupertino, California it will release the iPhone 5S on September 6, next. This was stated by one of the German sites.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Berita Gadget, 15 Oct 2013 @ 11:56pm

Nice Apple
Is why Apple will NEVER see 1 penny from me.!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Gadget Terbaru, 31 Dec 2013 @ 1:16am

I Like Apple
I am fascinated by this post. Thank you very much.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Harga Kamera Digital, 28 Mar 2014 @ 2:48am

Like Apple
This is an informative and interesting blog, I like it .
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Harga HP Terbaru, 22 Oct 2014 @ 10:22pm

For me the appeal of android is that its not locked down by a multi-billion dollar corporation and I can alter it, customize it, legally distribute it, sideload apps on it etc, to my hearts content.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lirik Lagu Indonesia, 22 Oct 2014 @ 10:24pm

Apple often mentioned working on the latest generation iPhone. Reportedly, the technology giant from Cupertino, California it will release the iPhone 5S on September 6, next. This was stated by one of the German sites.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Harga Gadget Terbaru, 6 Dec 2014 @ 1:55pm

current apple rumored to be releasing the latest generation iphone of the iPhone 6
[ link to this | view in thread ]
saputra, 28 Apr 2015 @ 6:12am

smartfren andromax terbaru
apple product quality is the number one and no mate
[ link to this | view in thread ]
perawatan kulit, 13 Sep 2015 @ 5:58pm

Apple and Samsung
Has everything is a very pleasant thing. Are you one of these?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Laptop Malaysia, 11 Apr 2016 @ 8:51am

Asus
What's really hilarious is that you can get a better deal from some brands of notebook then you can from the iPad or Surface tablets.

Lists of Tablet Price in Malaysia | laptopmalaysian.blogspot.com
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Teen Prog, 25 Apr 2016 @ 11:13pm

Samsung
Samsung is very nice bro :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ruddi, 27 Jun 2016 @ 7:24am

artikel yang bagus. manfaat frutablend
[ link to this | view in thread ]