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UK Court Furious At Apple Dragging Its Heels Over Samsung Court Order

from the not-putting-up-with-it dept

Fri, Nov 9th 2012 4:00pm — Mike Masnick

We've already covered how Apple got in a bit of trouble with a judge in the UK for its childish way of posting a statement on its website saying that Samsung didn't copy Apple with its devices. Apple then tried to claim it would take two weeks to fix, but when the court made it clear that was ridiculous, Apple miraculously figured out a way to comply -- though people quickly pointed out that it used some javascript to push the notice down the page. Then, without saying anything, Apple stopped using that javascript.

Perhaps it's because Apple is finally realizing that the UK judge was really furious at Apple for its handling of this whole situation. The full ruling from the judge that made Apple change the statement has been released, and it shows that the court sees that Apple is dragging its feet and doing everything it can to avoid fully complying. Furthermore, it directly calls out the original statement for providing "false and misleading" information. As some UK court observers noted, the judges are clearly not happy with Apple, which seemed to think its standard reality distortion field might work on judges as well as the public.

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Filed Under: court, statement, uk
Companies: apple, samsung

16 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:14pm

Punishment
If I were the judge dealing with this, I'd suspend Apple's corporate charter until they got off their ass and did what they were ordered to do to my satisfaction. Then if they try to pull any more shit, I'd fine them something substantial, like $250 million put them in contempt of court, and have their legal team disbarred because those lawyers are obviously incompetent for not taking my judgment seriously.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:18pm

Re: Punishment
If BREIN in The Netherlands can ask the court to fine ISP's x amount per day for not complying with there request in blocking x website then perhaps the UK Judge can fine Apple x amount of pounds per day until they comply with the court order.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:34pm

Apple is risking harsh sanctions and they're doing nothing but pissing off the U.K. courts. I think it's turning out to be a sitcom rather than courtroom drama and Apple needs to wise up and stop acting like a petulant child.
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out_of_the_blue, 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:35pm

Well, gave Mike yet another re-write.
And without someone else's work at third or more hand, Mike has nothing. Been a slow dull week here at Techdirt, nothing of importance, just blather by Mike and his unpaid minions...

Say, how DO you get any money out of this, Mike? Cause it's magic IF you do, sheer magic that in the prosperous society you were born into but play no part of making, that you can legally scrape a bit of income from someone else's work. But your only goal seems to be to figure out Step2, how to scrape yet more.

Now over the weekend the fanboys will tell each other how witty they are. I may drop in, I'm not easily upset...
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:40pm

This is not the judge you were looking for
Attention Apple:

Obi-Wan is gone, and with him his bag o' Jedi mind tricks. The hand-wave thing that worked for the Master does not simply work for those of his students who would assume his title without first completing the requisite period of training.

The reality distortion field was a localized phenomenon peculiar to the Master himself, which he could project at will to influence the minds of those who are weak and gullible. The force is not with you, and the judge in this case is not such a person, and he is not going to allow himself to be taken lightly. Or as a fool.

More training need you!
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:46pm

Re: Well, gave Mike yet another re-write.
Just report him and move on
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:54pm

Re: Well, gave Mike yet another re-write.
Yeap, much agree. He's had his time to show his colors and it's always the same thing. It's not about the article, not about commenting on the facts of the article, nor about disagreement with what the article states.

It's instead sock puppets, misdirection, and always, always, blaming Mike for the article, no matter who actually writes it.

The community has finally had enough of the bullshit. The report button has pretty much moved one troll off the board. How long will this one last before he too realizes his unjustified attacks does indeed have consequences and moves on?
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Titania Bonham-Smythe (profile), 9 Nov 2012 @ 4:59pm

Weirdly, Apple seem to think that if they employ some mildly clever technical bullshit to take the piss out of the judges that they will never realise. They seem to think that the army of savvy techies out there will side with them. But they are actually siding with the judges and pointing out every tiny detail of the way they are being mocked by Apple.

Everyone is getting out the popcorn waiting to see in what way the judges demonstrate their authority. And they have to - the judiciary can't tolerate being held in contempt.

But Apple's big miscalculation might be that they are turning their own customers against them. They are sabotaging the Apple brand.
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TheLastCzarnian (profile), 9 Nov 2012 @ 6:05pm

Re: This is not the judge you were looking for
I totally agree, very well said!

Much obliged, stranger! Stranger?

Who was that masked man -er- woman -er- entity?
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Nov 2012 @ 9:00pm

Re:
When the master died the apple started to rot from within. It was already rotting but the master hid the fact with his powers of distortion.
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G Thompson (profile), 9 Nov 2012 @ 9:56pm

Anyone else notice that at paragraph 30 the court has absolutely stated that Samsung might have recourse for a libel or malicious falsehood case against Apple if Apple make the old statements within its original "apology" elsewhere. ;)

In other words the court has said "Yes Mr Beloff (acting as counsel for Apple) we do not have the jurisdiction to make a further order but we will make it plain to all and sundry that we will absolutely allow further claims by Samsung if you try this crap elsewhere"

Extreme Benchslap!!!!
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 10 Nov 2012 @ 1:05am

So this is one of those times when Apple takes someone elses idea and tries to make it better and fails?

"Picasso had a saying. Good artists copy. Great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."

But don't touch our ideas... or else.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Nov 2012 @ 2:26am

Re:
Especially with the higher fees award in the nest paragraph.
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ChrisH, 11 Nov 2012 @ 10:00pm

Re: Punishment
As much as I don't take Apple's side, if I were a company of their size, in response to such an action, I would threaten to suspend all operations in the UK, including remotely disabling all Apple devices in the country, and blame it all on the judge. The backlash would be so great, the judge would find himself on the street begging for change before the end of the day. If multinational companies are big enough, and popular enough, they are effectively above the law.
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Niall (profile), 12 Nov 2012 @ 3:22am

Re: Re: Punishment
Then they would really be taken to town for contempt of court.

Although all the fanbois would scream if Apple stopped selling in the UK, there would also be a sizeable number of people who would get annoyed at an American company trying to bully the UK legal system.

I'm pretty sure the Android/Windows sellers would love that opportunity...
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reallY?, 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:01am

Re: Re: Punishment
Lol, imagine if a Chinese company did that to the US legal system. If a foreign company threatens a sovereign country's legal system, that's a direct threat to the county. A huge insult to its citizen. I guess you are those citizens who would root for a foreign company that threatens your sovereign legal system because of a some fancy gear. But most people won't take such insult. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they get boycotted.
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