Apple Ordered to Pay All of Samsung's Court Costs in UK Tablet Design Dispute

[MacRumors]

Following a series of events in a UK court case between Apple and Samsung that resulted in Apple having to publish a revised notice acknowledging that Samsung's Galaxy Tab devices had not infringed upon the registered design related to the iPad, the court has now ruled that Apple must pay all of Samsung's legal fees. The order was made after the court decided that Apple's behavior in the matter had been inappropriate and showed a "lack of integrity".

As to the costs (lawyers' fees) to be awarded against Apple, we concluded that they should be on an indemnity basis. Such a basis (which is higher than the normal, "standard" basis) can be awarded as a mark of the court's disapproval of a party's conduct, particularly in relation to its respect for an order of the court. Apple's conduct warranted such an order.

The order also highlights the court's issues with Apple's original statement, which contained improperly inserted text within the notice that was required by the court. The court's order specifically permitted Apple to comment on or publish its own information relating to the case, but the company was judged to have purposely circumvented the intent of the order by inserting information judged to be false within the ordered text.

I do not think the order as made precluded any addition to the required notice if that addition had been true and did not undermine the effect of the required notice. But I do consider that adding false and misleading material was illegitimate. For by adding such material the context of the required notice is altered so that it will be understood differently. [...]

The reality is that wherever Apple has sued on this registered design or its counterpart, it has ultimately failed. It may or may not have other intellectual property rights which are infringed. Indeed the same may be true the other way round for in some countries Samsung are suing Apple. But none of that has got anything to do with the registered design asserted by Apple in Europe. Apple's additions to the ordered notice clearly muddied the water and the message obviously intended to be conveyed by it.

Beyond the inclusion of false and misleading text within the required notice, the court also took exception to Apple's claim that it would take 14 days to modify the notice posted on its website. The court ultimately gave Apple 48 hours to make the changes, and the company complied with that demand.

Article Link: Apple Ordered to Pay All of Samsung's Court Costs in UK Tablet Design Dispute

[HarryKeogh]

Well, that's what Apple gets for trying to be a wise-ass.

[NutsNGum]

Pretty obnoxious behaviour by Apple. I'll bet the heels wouldn't have been dragged if this had been a judgement from an American court.

[chirpie]

Court to Apple:

"You know what we meant, you know how to comply. Now COMPLY."

[Parise]

Thats pretty much par for the course when losing ANY lawsuit.

[mojothemonkey]

Apple wont even notice, but hopefully they start understanding that they're overdoing it a bit with the lawsuits and it's time to start acting like a market leader and not a whiner.

Enough with the patent wars. There is an entire parasitic industry based on patent aggregation, holding, and sales to companies to use as ammunition.

And yes, we know the order to pay fees has nothing to do with public sentiment about their litigiousness. It's a side-comment.

[MacFather]

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[mojothemonkey]

Originally Posted by chirpie

Court to Apple:

"You know what we meant, you know how to comply. Now COMPLY."

In the UK yes, but not in the states. It's a good rule that I wish they'd implement here (in the US).

[FatGuy007]

I'm honestly all sick of this Samsung, HTC, lawsuits and bullcrap.

[Oracle1729]

Anyone else notice so much of the apple news lately is about these legal games and fighting with their partners, suppliers, competitors.

Apple has really lost their ability to focus on product and would rather get into school-yard squabbles than focus on their business

Apple 2012 = Microsoft 1998.

[ollyb]

While the original statement was misleading, childish, etc, which part of it was "false"? I would have thought that factual accuracy would have been important for them to get right in their eyes, even if they were going to disobey the intention of the statement.

[Thunderhawks]

May I suggest that whenever we see the two logos next to each other in an MR thread, to just scroll on until they Apple vs. Samsung on page 2?

[boombashi]

Originally Posted by FatGuy007

I'm honestly all sick of this Samsung, HTC, lawsuits and bullcrap.

I was just thinking the exact same thing.

[chirpie]

Originally Posted by mojothemonkey

In the UK yes, but not in the states. It's a good rule that I wish they'd implement here (in the US).

Agreed.

[topmounter]

We knew this would happen, but it's still sad to watch the wheels coming off.

[Dr McKay]

I think this should happen anyway, if you lose a case you should foot the bills for both parties. Might stop some lawsuits dead in their tracks.

[GenesisST]

Apple and Samsung lawyers are probably at the pub right now... I mean this was even more billable time for them to get this judgment...

Lawyers win... If only I had liked that over computer science... But I do what I love and get paid for it... wouldn't choose a career for money first.

[Foxykhat]

I don't know... but if you're gonna lose I'll probably rather pay legal cost, that advertise for my competition.

[samcraig]

Posted about the ruling this morning. No surprise. And as it should be.

[rmatthewware]

I think Steve Jobs left behind some great legacies at Apple. I hope his crusade against phone companies who use Android is one legacy that the current leadership lets go.

[Mike Oxard]

I imagine neither side really cares, all these costs inevitably get pushed onto us, the consumers in the end. I wish they'd all sort out appropriate licensing and sell us just the products, to make us pay their legal fees as well.

[-ATHEiST-]

Originally Posted by Parise

Thats pretty much par for the course when losing ANY lawsuit.

Standard court costs yes, However these costs are paid on an indemnity basis which is not on par.

http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/11/u...ate-apple.html

[JAT]

This is going to make a lot of petty people on the internet very happy.

[ChazUK]

One of the more interesting aspects of this story is those that originally said Apple weren't stupid enough to go against the court's rule and what Apple originally wrote was in compliance with the court order.

It's about time this story was put to rest now though, Apple seem to have inadvertently (or not?) created a lot of press over something that didn't need as much attention as it has got.

[nick_elt]

Times are changing, macrumors used to be full of fanboys that didnt care about logic but it seems Apples behaviour has pissed them off too.