Note to Apple: UK judges don’t get American snarkiness. The UK Court of Appeals Thursday told the iPhone maker its recent apology to Samsung was “incorrect” and required a new notice on the website “acknowledging the inaccurate comments.” At issue: comments from the trial’s first ruling in which the judge declared Samsung’s tablet “not as cool.”
Judge Robin Jacob ordered the changes to Apple’s website be made within 24 hours, rejecting the Cupertino, Calif. firm’s request for 14 days to make the edit. “This is Apple. They cannot put something on their website?” Jacob reportedly said…
According to Bloomberg’s Jeremy Hodges, the order “is not designed to punish, it is not designed to makes us grovel,” Apple attorney Michael Beloff told the court. “The only purpose is to dispel commercial uncertainty.”
In July, a UK judge ruled Samsung’s tablets did not infringe upon Apple’s design, saying the products from South Korea were not “cool” enough. When Apple published the apology on its UK website, along with saying Samsung’s tablets didn’t infringe, the company also included the court’s “cool” remarks, as well as favorable mention by a German court. That gave the “impression that the UK court is out of step with other courts,” argued Samsung attorney Henry Carr.
My only question is why Apple thought its apology to Samsung wrapped in a seeming endorsement of the iPad would not ire the legal community? If the shoe were on the other foot, Apple would be crying foul seconds after the “apology” went public.
What do you think? Why did Apple write a snarky apology that inherently would not stand up to legal challenge?