In its judgment handed down on 18 October, the Court of Appeal, with Sir Robin Jacob giving the lead judgment, has supported the first instance rulings of Judge Birss in emphatic style. In Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd v Apple Inc [2012] EWCA Civ 1339, Sir Robin Jacob even went so far as to say ‘even if I were forming my own view of the matter, I would have come to the same conclusion and for the same reasons. If the registered design has a scope as wide as Apple contends it would foreclose much of the market for tablet computers. Alterations in thickness, curvature of the sides, embellishment and so on would not escape its grasp. Legitimate competition by different designs would be stifled‘. The Court of Appeal also supported the trial judge’s decision to order Apple to pay for corrective adverts in various publications.
The relevant judgments of His Honour Judge Birss can be found here and, as regards the adverts, here.
The Court of Appeal’s judgment is also highly critical of the July decision of the Oberlandesgericht which held that the Samsung Galaxy 7.7 infringed Apple’s rights and granted a pan-EU injunction against Samsung from selling it.
