Apple posts revised 'Samsung did not copy' statement, acknowledges first version was inaccurate

By James Trew posted Nov 3rd 2012 5:17AM

Apple has just reposted its statement acknowledging that Samsung did not copy its tablet design, after the initial wording was deemed unacceptable by the UK courts. The new version is a lot shorter, and simply repeats what it published in national newspapers this week, stating that the court did not find Samsung to be in breach of Apple's registered design No. 0000181607-0001, reminding us that it was also upheld by the Court of Appeal, providing links to the appropriate patent and judgement documents online. The mention of the same case going in Apple's favor in Germany has been removed completely. When first published, Apple included a short link at the bottom of its homepage. Now, to completely comply with the court's bidding, there is a short statement accompanying the link, confirming that its initial acknowledgement was inaccurate. The court also told Apple that it must keep the admission online until at least December 14th. Will this be enough to appease the UK courts? We'll just have to wait and see.

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Apple UK updates Samsung statement, but makes sure people don’t see it

Apple did not take its loss against Samsung lightly, in the UK. The Cupertino Giant was forced to post a statement in their UK website, stating that Samsung did not infringe on Apple’s patents. Needless to say Apple still went for homerun and decided to highlight the competition’s shortcomings and Apple’s victories across the world.

UK courts then asked Apple to correct the previously posted statement and publish a Samsung-friendly one. The link also had to be more noticeable, placed under Apple’s homepage at a font size no lower than 11 points. But of course, Apple found another way to make such statement less visible to the general public.

Apple UK went as far as re-coding the site so that people won’t be able to see the statement link without a bit of effort. Apple’s UK website resizes itself depending on screen size and resolution, making the statement harder to get to, regardless of what device you may be using. This is done mostly by resizing the image of the iPad Mini to accomodate the browser’s size.

Code

var HeroResize=AC.Class({initialize:function(b){this._height=null;this._hero=$(b);
AC.Object.synthesize(this);this.__boundResizeHero=this.resizeHero.bindAsEventListener(this);
if(typeof window.ontouchstart===”undefined”){this.resizeHero();Event.observe(window,”resize”,this.__boundResizeHero)
}},setHeight:function(b){this._height=(b<0)?0:b;return this._height},resizeHero:function(){this.setHeight(parseInt(window.innerHeight||(window.document.documentElement.clientHeight||window.document.body.clientHeight),10)-310);
this.hero().style.height=this.height()+"px"}});Event.onDOMReady(function(){var b=new HeroResize("billboard")
});

The code you see above ensures that the bottom 310 pixels of the site stay out of view unless one makes an effort to scroll down. I have tested viewing both sites from multiple monitors and can attest to the fact that the bottom part stays out of view, with the UK site’s iPad Mini picture changing sizes (while the US version stays the same).

The only way I managed to keep the statement in view was to put my 23-inch monitor on portrait orientation and blasting the site full-screen. And this was only because the iPad Mini image couldn’t get any bigger without crossing the side edges.

Apple, you just really have to have the last word, don’t you? Is it that hard to accept a defeat and leave a statement until mid-November? We could not expect any less from Apple and its unfair tactics. Now let’s see if UK authorities will notice this and force Apple to once again make changes to its official site.

[via Reddit]

Thanks, Jake!

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