Samsung Did Not Infringe on Apple's iPad Design

By Barbara E. Hernandez

| Thursday, Oct 18, 2012 | Updated 1:42 PM PDT

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Samsung Did Not Infringe on Apple's iPad Design

AFP/Getty Images

A Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is pictured under an Apple iPad 2 at the Media Markt in The Hague on August 16, 2011. South Korean electronics giant Samsung will launch its Galaxy Tab 10.1 on the Dutch market today in the midst of a legal stand-off with rival US-based Apple and sales banned elsewhere in Europe. A Dusseldorf court a week ago granted a separate injunction halting the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across Europe, with the exception of the Netherlands. Samsung indicated that it would appeal the decision. AFP PHOTO / ANP / ROBERT VOS netherlands out - belgium out (Photo credit should read ROBERT VOS/AFP/Getty Images)

In what can only be termed a back-handed compliment, Samsung was cleared of copying Apple iPad design because its Galaxy tablet computer was "not as cool."

The decision came from the British Court of Appeal Thursday which denied that Samsung's tablet infringed on Apple's patent, according to Reuters. A similar case in the United States also ruled the same way -- although a jury decided that patent infringement by Samsung occurred in components of the iPhone an iPad, design wasn't a part of it, the Guardian reported.

The British decision on Apple's appeal is valid throughout Europe and is likely to prohibit any further appeals.

"We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners," Samsung said in a statement. Apple declined to comment.

As part of the decision, Apple must also run ads on its website and in newspapers announcing that Samsung did not copy its tablet designs.

While Samsung is still appealing its court decision to pay Apple $1 billion for patent infringement in the United States, it's unknown if this may affect any future decisions. The design of the Galaxy Tab has been deemed almost uniformly not a problem for Samsung, but its electronic components are more of an issue.