Apple posts new statement about Samsung case after court rebuke

After a rather stinging development this week when the UK court of appeals chastised Applefor their recent attempt to post a court-ordered statement on their web site concerning one of their many lawsuits with Samsung, Apple has posted a new statement on their UK web site. Apple was required to post a statement indicating Samsung did not copy the iPad when producing the Galaxy line of tablet devices. Apple does not exactly say that, but they do state that Samsung does not infringe on a specific Apple registered design. The new statement probably meets the legal requirements of the UK court.

Apple managed to get a new statement on their homepage that meets the court’s font size mandate within the time frame mandated by the court. Despite protesting that it would take two weeks to do so, Apple managed to achieve this coding feat within the 48 hours set forth by the court. It is not clear whether Apple’s attorneys realized they were representing a client that is a huge technology firm and might possibly have the resources to update a web page. Another alternative is that someone in Apple woke up to the fact that the required posting time frame will now result in the statement being on the web site well into the holiday shopping season and perhaps it would be best to just get things over with as quickly as possible. Apple appears to have taken care to not include any sneaky commentary regarding the court’s ruling in relation to results from other courts. If there is anything positive for Apple in this particular incident it is that the court allowed them to put the statement in the footer of the homepage instead of front and center.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus injunction reversed by appeals court

Do you remember all the patches and workarounds that Samsung and Google had to push out to consumers last summer to remove unified search from Android devices, specifically the Samsung Galaxy Nexus? That work was due to an injunction awarded by Judge Lucy Koh to halt sales of the Galaxy Nexus which was the subject of a patent lawsuit Apple filed against Samsung. In granting the injunction halting sales, Koh determined Apple could suffer irreparable damage and loss of market share unless sales of the Galaxy Nexus were halted as long as they included a universal search function.

Reuters is now reporting that an appeals court has repealed that injunction. In their appeal, Samsung had argued that sales of the Galaxy Nexus would not harm Apple. It appears the appellate court agreed with that position and may have even gone a bit further in assessing Apple’s claims. According to the court’s document issued today, Apple failed to present evidence that tied sales of the Galaxy Nexus to this feature. The court also determined that there is no dispute that the Galaxy Nexus does not have a feature equivalent to Siri, which was a major part of the ’604 patent at issue as well as a selling point for Apple’s products, but not the Galaxy Nexus. Going even further, today’s decision indicates Apple must show people buy the Galaxy Nexus due to the presence of the claims included in the ’604 patent, which is more than just search in general or even unified search, if they want to eventually prevail.

In a bit of strong wording, the court also indicated that the district court had “abused its discretion” in issuing the preliminary injunction. The issue now goes back to the district court for reconsideration.