Apple must run ads to inform public Samsung did not copy iPad

Apple must run an advert on its website expressly stating that Samsung did not copy iPad designs for its own tablets, a UK judge has ruled.

Judge Colin Birss, who last week ruled that Samsung could not have infringed on Apple's iPad copyright because Galaxy Tab tablets simply are not "as cool", is responsible for the ruling, according to Bloomberg.

The decision means that Apple will have to run the advert for at least six months on its company website.

The ongoing patent dispute, with cases being brought to courts on both sides of the Atlantic, sees no real sign of abating yet, as Samsung's attempts to have Apple banned from continuing the infringement claim were denied. Judge Birss ruled that Apple was simply stating an opinion, and was free to carry on doing so.

In a statement, Samsung said of the case: "Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited."

This latest development in Apple and Samsung's long-running tussle joins a collection of similar patent-based legal clashes in recent weeks, from Nokia claiming infringement from Google on the Nexus tablet, to RIM being instructed to pay out $147.2m to tech provider Mformation after Blackberry's Enterprise Server software was found to infringe patents.

The big one, of course, was June's Google and Oracle case, in which Oracle alleged that the search engine giant had illegally used proprietary Java APIs in Android. The case was settled out of court for $0.