(Before It's News)
WorldWide
Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.
UK:
Samsung had not infringed Apple`s design rights, rules Judge.
Among the reasons for finding
that Galaxy tabs didn’t infringe on the physical design patent was the fact
that Samsung branding was on the front and back of its tabs and they were
thinner than the iPad.
Apple said in its appeal
that thinness didn’t matter because consumers would expect tablets to get
slimmer over time and slab-fondlers would ignore trademarks.
Judge, Sir Robin Jacob
disagreed in his ruling, saying design patents were protection for what was
registered at the time, not future differences. He also said that Apple quite
clearly went on about the simplicity of the iPad’s design and its lack of
ornamentation and company names emblazoned across the product qualify as
ornamentation.
The only slight respite for
Apple is that it doesn’t have to plaster the notice over its homepage on its
website, Jacob said a link to the notice would be fine. However, the fruity
firm will still have to publish the notice in font no smaller than Arial 14pt
in the Financial Times, the Daily Mail, The Guardian, Moble
Magazine and T3 magazine.
A spokeswoman for Samsung
said it welcomed the latest ruling.
“We continue to
believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular
shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple’s registered design
features can be found in numerous examples of prior art.
“Should Apple continue
to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic
designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly
limited.”
Apple declined to comment.
It can still appeal to the UK Supreme Court, otherwise the ruling applies
across the European Union.
BBC and the register


Worldwide Tech & Science
Source: