This isn't even an apology in the slightest. It's only on the UK site as well. (I've checked .de .com .fr and it's no where to be seen, which makes sense if you are Apple).
However, if they are going to display it only in UK, then they should have at least spelt "judgment" correctly. They use "/uk/legal-judgement/" (Over in UK there is only a single "e" not two).
Anyway, totally not an apology. It looks more like an accusation and a reassertion how bitter they feel about the verdict, by cherry picking quotes to suite them.
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(Edit: In the interest of setting the point straight since this is the top comment and it seems to be getting wrongfully upvoted, Apple didn't legally have to "make an apology". They just had to make it clear that Samsung did not infringe Apples registered design [1]. However, I do think that in spite of quoting the judgment extract verbatim, they still fall short of this requirement, since they continue for 3 more paragraph drilling out other points that supported Apple).
So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement,
other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet,
Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad.
1) The order from the court was for the UK site only. This makes sense - it was a UK ruling from a UK court which has no jurisdiction in any other countries.
There are separate cases in places like Germany. It make no sense for the UK courts to force Apple to make statements in other countries covering rulings made under laws that don't apply there and which may (and in some cases do) contradict rulings made under the laws of those countries.
2) There was no demand for an apology and I'm not sure why you think that there is. The court is very specific about what has to be said which is that Apple make it clear that the court ruled that Samsung did not copy the iPad. They also include wording which must be in there and details on the font size and that there must be a link to the actual ruling.
3) Judgements is a perfectly valid spelling here in the UK, they're used interchangeably. Check justice.gov.uk if you don't believe me - you get significant numbers of hits for both. EDIT: I bow to the greater knowledge of others here - both spellings are common but it seems that judgment is the one used for legal rulings.
On your point 3) If I can remember correctly from my law lectures, "judgments" are reserved exclusively for the legal usage (courts, tribunals etc). There is only one correct spelling of "judgment" in the legal sense, everywhere else gives a judgement as to their opinion on a matter, the difference being, that if someone passes a judgment then you know it has come from a legally binding court of law.
I would regularly get a red pen marker through my essays if I used the wrong version (so you quickly get things like this drilled into you). If it's written with the "e" version on justice.gov.uk then they are either using it wrong, or they are using the non legal version (ie "In my judgement this painting looks like a fake", compared to, "In the courts judgment, the painting was a held to be a forgery").
It might seem pedantic, but I guess that's the way law is. For instance, court and Court (when used legally) also mean and can refer to two different things.
On point 2) Do you think that Apple made it clear that the court ruled in favour of Samsung? One line was given to this, whereas 20+ was given to why Apple feel that this judgment was a mistake? I've updated my original comment anyway.
(I agree that they didn't have to include the link for other countries as per your first point).
Re the spelling of judgment / judgement I apologise and bow to your greater knowledge.
I certainly think it's debatable whether it makes it clear but I suspect the issue is that the court was very precise in what it said had to be included, how it had to be presented and so on, so as long as Apple ticked all those boxes they can say they've complied.
My point on that was really that the requirement was for a simple informational message. The court made no mention that there should be an apology which would be a very different thing.
> The court is very specific about what has to be said which is that Apple make it clear that the court ruled that Samsung did not copy the iPad
On the contrary. The court was very specific that this case actually has nothing to do with whether Samsung did or did not copy the iPad, and went to some lengths to explain why not.
"It is not about whether Samsung copied Apple's iPad. Infringement of a registered design does not involve any question of whether there was copying: the issue is simply whether the accused design is too close to the registered design according to the tests laid down in the law. Whether or not Apple could have sued in England and Wales for copying is utterly irrelevant to this case. If they could, they did not." (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html at [3]).
Registered design law is not copyright law. You can infringe a registered design without having ever copied, seen, or even know of the design you're infringing on. Conversely, you can copy a design but alter it enough that it "produce[s] on the informed user a different overall impression" from the original and not infringe.
Apologies, but the point stands that the court didn't demand an apology, it demanded that Apple post and explanation of the ruling including a number of specific points.
Technically any court with jurisdiction over England and Wales is also "a UK court", in the same sense as you would refer to a German court as a "European court".
It's simply describing the general location within which a court resides, not precisely demarcating its jurisdiction.
Yes you are right that you could interpret it as being a mere location, however there are courts that cover all of the UK , e.g. the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_Kin... ). Likewise, a german court would have no juristicion over the rest of the EU (say).
If it was a german court decision it would be misleading to say "it was a EU ruling from a EU court which has no jurisdiction in any other countries/supranational bodies.", since that implies the court could have power over the whole of the EU. Likewise "UK court" might imply juristiction over all of UK.
Is a forced apology ever really an apology? I don't see the point in forcing it.
Edit: Apparently apple were never ordered to make an 'apology'. They were ordered to make a 'publicity order'. They used the EXACT wording[1] as ordered by the court, as well as quotes from a judge in the matter.
It's not about sincerity, it's about setting the record straight. During the course of these court proceedings, the allegations against Samsung will have been widely publicised.
Such allegations can cause real damage to a company's reputation, and a publicity order publicising the judgment of the court that the allegations were false is a measure to undo some of that harm.
From Wikipedia:
Minimisation is a type of deception involving denial coupled with rationalisation in situations where complete denial is implausible. It is the opposite of exaggeration.
'Minimization is one of the most common ways we reduce our feelings of guilt..."It's not that big of a deal"'.
If I’m reading the judgment correctly, the court never asked for an apology. The court asked Apple to present certain specific information – which Apple did. That’s all.
If you are going to get snotty about spelling (you are wrong by the way, "judgement" is acceptable in the UK, a less common spelling than "judgment" certainly but not incorrect), then it is best not to end with a spelling mistake of your own. The word is "suit" not "suite", in this case the words are not interchangeable.
Comments
This isn't even an apology in the slightest. It's only on the UK site as well. (I've checked .de .com .fr and it's no where to be seen, which makes sense if you are Apple).
However, if they are going to display it only in UK, then they should have at least spelt "judgment" correctly. They use "/uk/legal-judgement/" (Over in UK there is only a single "e" not two).
Anyway, totally not an apology. It looks more like an accusation and a reassertion how bitter they feel about the verdict, by cherry picking quotes to suite them.
------
(Edit: In the interest of setting the point straight since this is the top comment and it seems to be getting wrongfully upvoted, Apple didn't legally have to "make an apology". They just had to make it clear that Samsung did not infringe Apples registered design [1]. However, I do think that in spite of quoting the judgment extract verbatim, they still fall short of this requirement, since they continue for 3 more paragraph drilling out other points that supported Apple).
Sincerity at it's most "righteous":So a few things:
1) The order from the court was for the UK site only. This makes sense - it was a UK ruling from a UK court which has no jurisdiction in any other countries.
There are separate cases in places like Germany. It make no sense for the UK courts to force Apple to make statements in other countries covering rulings made under laws that don't apply there and which may (and in some cases do) contradict rulings made under the laws of those countries.
2) There was no demand for an apology and I'm not sure why you think that there is. The court is very specific about what has to be said which is that Apple make it clear that the court ruled that Samsung did not copy the iPad. They also include wording which must be in there and details on the font size and that there must be a link to the actual ruling.
3) Judgements is a perfectly valid spelling here in the UK, they're used interchangeably. Check justice.gov.uk if you don't believe me - you get significant numbers of hits for both. EDIT: I bow to the greater knowledge of others here - both spellings are common but it seems that judgment is the one used for legal rulings.
Actual ruling here: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html
(Note that the appeals court changed 6 months to 1 month but upheld the link from the homepage).
On your point 3) If I can remember correctly from my law lectures, "judgments" are reserved exclusively for the legal usage (courts, tribunals etc). There is only one correct spelling of "judgment" in the legal sense, everywhere else gives a judgement as to their opinion on a matter, the difference being, that if someone passes a judgment then you know it has come from a legally binding court of law.
I would regularly get a red pen marker through my essays if I used the wrong version (so you quickly get things like this drilled into you). If it's written with the "e" version on justice.gov.uk then they are either using it wrong, or they are using the non legal version (ie "In my judgement this painting looks like a fake", compared to, "In the courts judgment, the painting was a held to be a forgery").
It might seem pedantic, but I guess that's the way law is. For instance, court and Court (when used legally) also mean and can refer to two different things.
On point 2) Do you think that Apple made it clear that the court ruled in favour of Samsung? One line was given to this, whereas 20+ was given to why Apple feel that this judgment was a mistake? I've updated my original comment anyway.
(I agree that they didn't have to include the link for other countries as per your first point).
Re the spelling of judgment / judgement I apologise and bow to your greater knowledge.
I certainly think it's debatable whether it makes it clear but I suspect the issue is that the court was very precise in what it said had to be included, how it had to be presented and so on, so as long as Apple ticked all those boxes they can say they've complied.
My point on that was really that the requirement was for a simple informational message. The court made no mention that there should be an apology which would be a very different thing.
> The court is very specific about what has to be said which is that Apple make it clear that the court ruled that Samsung did not copy the iPad
On the contrary. The court was very specific that this case actually has nothing to do with whether Samsung did or did not copy the iPad, and went to some lengths to explain why not.
"It is not about whether Samsung copied Apple's iPad. Infringement of a registered design does not involve any question of whether there was copying: the issue is simply whether the accused design is too close to the registered design according to the tests laid down in the law. Whether or not Apple could have sued in England and Wales for copying is utterly irrelevant to this case. If they could, they did not." (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html at [3]).
Registered design law is not copyright law. You can infringe a registered design without having ever copied, seen, or even know of the design you're infringing on. Conversely, you can copy a design but alter it enough that it "produce[s] on the informed user a different overall impression" from the original and not infringe.
Apologies, but the point stands that the court didn't demand an apology, it demanded that Apple post and explanation of the ruling including a number of specific points.
from a UK court
Pedantically, it appears to be from a English & Welsh court, not UK.
Technically any court with jurisdiction over England and Wales is also "a UK court", in the same sense as you would refer to a German court as a "European court".
It's simply describing the general location within which a court resides, not precisely demarcating its jurisdiction.
Yes you are right that you could interpret it as being a mere location, however there are courts that cover all of the UK , e.g. the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_Kin... ). Likewise, a german court would have no juristicion over the rest of the EU (say).
If it was a german court decision it would be misleading to say "it was a EU ruling from a EU court which has no jurisdiction in any other countries/supranational bodies.", since that implies the court could have power over the whole of the EU. Likewise "UK court" might imply juristiction over all of UK.
I live in Scotland, I really shouldn't have got that wrong.
Is a forced apology ever really an apology? I don't see the point in forcing it.
Edit: Apparently apple were never ordered to make an 'apology'. They were ordered to make a 'publicity order'. They used the EXACT wording[1] as ordered by the court, as well as quotes from a judge in the matter.
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html#para8...
It's not about sincerity, it's about setting the record straight. During the course of these court proceedings, the allegations against Samsung will have been widely publicised.
Such allegations can cause real damage to a company's reputation, and a publicity order publicising the judgment of the court that the allegations were false is a measure to undo some of that harm.
From Wikipedia: Minimisation is a type of deception involving denial coupled with rationalisation in situations where complete denial is implausible. It is the opposite of exaggeration. 'Minimization is one of the most common ways we reduce our feelings of guilt..."It's not that big of a deal"'.
Actually, "judgment" is the correct spelling in this context:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_(law)
That's what he said - albeit a little unclearly.
If I’m reading the judgment correctly, the court never asked for an apology. The court asked Apple to present certain specific information – which Apple did. That’s all.
If you are going to get snotty about spelling (you are wrong by the way, "judgement" is acceptable in the UK, a less common spelling than "judgment" certainly but not incorrect), then it is best not to end with a spelling mistake of your own. The word is "suit" not "suite", in this case the words are not interchangeable.