Apple’s legal battles against Samsung haven’t been very successful in the European Union. First, it was a court in UK which flatly turned down Apple’s infringement allegations against Samsung. Now, a Dutch court has ruled that Samsung’s tablets didn’t infringe the design features of iPad, that includes rounded corners which Apple says to be a proprietary thing.
The court, located in Hague, declared in a recent verdict that the fact that both Apple iPad as well as Galaxy Tab models 10.1, 8.9 and 7.7 have rounded corners does not, in any way, imply that Samsung has somehow infringed Apple’s patents. Unfortunately for Apple, the court was quick to cite a similar ruling given by the UK court on the matter.
The UK court had not only turned down Apple’s claims of alleged patent infringement, it also snubbed Apple over raising the issue and asked the company to post an official apology to Samsung on the former’s UK website. Apple tried to play down the whole thing by embellishing the court order with stories of its own and then posting that on the website.
The court was visibly offended and asked Apple to amend the text of the message and post it as per the court’s directions. The iPad maker was then also asked to pay the legal fees incurred by Samsung during the course of the case.
That seems to be had set somewhat of a precedent for other European courts. The court in Hague has already cited the verdict to follow in its footsteps. Commenting on the ruling, Samsung stated, “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.”
Courtesy: CNET
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