London - Apple has lost an appeal against a UK ruling that
Samsung had not infringed its design rights on its iPad tablet, the BBC reports.
This comes after a judge at the High Court in London had
initially ruled in July that the design of Samsung's Galaxy Tab computers were
not too similar to designs of the iPad.
The judge reportedly said that Samsung's devices were not as
"cool" because they lacked Apple's "extreme simplicity".
According to the report, he also ordered Apple to run ads
saying Samsung had not infringed its rights.
The judge told Apple that the notice should remain on
Apple's website for at least half a year and that other adverts should be
placed in various media publications in order to correct the impression that
Samsung was a copycat.
A Samsung spokesperson welcomed the 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," the spokesperson was
quoted as saying.
Apple had yet to issue a statement.