Apple's U.K. Apology to Samsung

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) was today ordered to publish on its U.K. website a statement admitting that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9, and Tab 7.7 did not infringe upon Apple's registered iPad design. Apple must also publish the statement in U.K. national newspapers.

This action came after a British Court of Appeal upheld last July's original ruling against Apple. The original ruling stated:

From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool. The overall impression produced is different.

Apple did manage to get the last word in its court-ordered statement:

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design... 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.