Apple bosses have been warned they could find themselves in contempt of court – and even in jail – if they do not act quickly to change the Samsung apology on the company website, after a reprimand from the Court of Appeal.
The move follows a complaint filed by Samsung that the original statement, put online earlier this week, did not comply with the court order and should be altered.
Apple said the notice – which appeared to mock Samsung’s products as ‘uncool’ – did comply. But judges agreed with Samsung and said Apple should post another statement within 48 hours, even though Apple claimed it would take up to two weeks to alter the website.
Lord Justice Longmore said: “We are just amazed that you cannot put the right notice up at the same time as you take the other one down.” And Sir Robin Jacob added: “I would like to see the head of Apple make an affidavit about why that is such a technical difficulty for the Apple company.”
Commenting on the Court of Appeal ruling, Michael Gardner, head of intellectual property at London law firm Wedlake Bell, said: “The notice as published by Apple is completely against the spirit of the Court of Appeal’s ruling and appears to be in breach of it.
“Apple was ordered to report the fact that its claim had been dismissed and that there was no injunction in place in Europe against Samsung’s Galaxy tablet. Instead, Apple has inserted quotes from the original High Court judgment which described Samsung’s product as ‘not as cool’ as the iPad.
“The Court of Appeal is clearly very unhappy at Apple’s behaviour and incredulous at its suggestion that it will take 14 days to remove the offending content from the website rather than the 24 hours suggested by the Court.
“Apple has only itself to blame. It is unlikely that Tim Cook will be required to appear in person but if Apple does not get a grip it is likely to find itself in contempt of court. Where a contempt is committed, the Court can jail officers of a company and impose substantial fines. It is not something to be taken lightly.”
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