Apple Disobeys Court Order, Angers UK Judges

In July, a British high court judge ruled that Samsung did not copy Apple

when it developed its tablets. After announcing that Samsung's tablets simply

to be mistaken for an iPad, he told Apple that it should

to "correct any impression the South Korea-based company was copying Apple's product."

This was an instruction, not an order. But on October 18, Apple was finally forced to publish the notice. The Mac maker complied but decided to defend itself by mentioning a more favorable verdict from a German court.

referred to the

as a "non-apology," while

said that it was "studiously manicured to almost not feel like an acknowledgement at all." UK judges have not taken kindly to Apple's actions. According to the

, the Cupertino, California-based company has 48 hours to re-write its statement. The judges want Apple to make it clear that Samsung did not infringe on the iPad's registered design. They also want Apple to remove the

within 24 hours. As of this writing, that statement is still live and is featured on Apple's

. Apple attorney Michael Beloff told the BBC that his company thought it had complied with the order, which he said was "not designed to punish" and "not designed to make us grovel." "The only purpose must be to dispel commercial uncertainty," he said, asking to be given 14 days to publish a replacement. The judges denied that request. "We are just amazed that you cannot put the right notice up at the same time as you take the other one down," Lord Justice Longmore replied. Sir Robin Jacob said that he would like to see Apple CEO Tim Cook "make an affidavit about why that is such a technical difficulty" for the company to publish an updated statement in a timely manner.