On Thursday, Apple was unsuccessful in its latest appeal against a ruling that extricated Samsung of any blame in allegedly copying Apple’s iPad in its own tablet designs.
As chronicled by Reuters, the world’s two leading smartphone makers are fighting over patents, both for smartphones and for tablets like Apple’s iPad, all over the world. This time, the fight reached a resolution in Great Britain.
Britain’s Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the country’s High Court judgment that, despite some similarities, Samsung’s Galaxy tablet did not infringe Apple’s designs, in part because its products were “not as cool”.
“I expect this will be the end of the line. An appeal to the Supreme Court is in principle possible but there has been no indication so far that Apple plan such an appeal,” says Darren Smyth, a specialist in intellectual property law. “For the design of tablets in Europe this should be the final word.”
For now, Apple is yet to comment on the decision, but Samsung is pleased. “We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners,” Samsung said after the ruling late Thursday.
