Apple to appeal Samsung "advertisement" court ruling

Earlier today it was announced that after ruling the Samsung Galaxy Tab not "cool" enough to be mistaken for an iPad, a UK judge has demanded that Apple place "an advertisement" for Samsung declaring the result for all to see. This judgement has, as expected, been appealed by Apple and has been granted the right to take the case to the court of appeal by the same Judge Birss that presided over this main case. In the event this ruling stands, Apple will have to pay for notices in the Daily Mail, Financial Times, Guardian Mobile magazine, and T3 as well as displaying a notice on Apple.com that the Samsung tablet does not infringe on Apple's registered designs.

This is by far the most notable of results from the series of Apple vs Samsung cases that have been ruled upon over the past few months. The Galaxy Tab was for a while blocked from sales in Germany, in Australia the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been found not guilty of infringing on the design of the iPad, and a Dutch court released a statement which included the following:

"Following the statement from Apple that its model attractive 'minimalistic' or 'tight' shape, is judge noted that "minimalist" design basically means that the contours are followed as defined by technology and ergonomics of the device are dictated and in determining the scope of this model, technical or other practical / ergonomic elements be disregarded. Considered further given that the backs and sides of the Galaxy Tabs 10.1v and 10.1 differ from those of the Apple model, the judge concluded that the Samsung tablet a different overall impression than that model, so there is no of breach" Dutch court documentation." (machine-translated)

Meanwhile Apple is still in the middle of a case here in the USA with a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 standing even after a Samsung appeal. As for this most recent ruling in the UK, it remains unclear as to how Apple and Samsung will handle the situation.

The appeal mentioned above for this UK case deals with the original claim against Samsung rather than the advertisment-based penalty, but we're sure Apple is a bit more than a little conscious of how negative the ads could be for their cases still pending around the world.

Stay tuned as we await the proceedings!

[via Bloomberg]