U.K. judge shoots down Apple's Galaxy Tab appeal

Apple has lost an appeal against Samsung in an ongoing U.K. case over design patents relating to the iPad.

A U.K. High Court appeals judge ruled in favor of Samsung at a hearing this morning, finding that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 had not infringed Apple's design patents relating to the iPad.

The original case in July heard Judge Colin Birss overseeing the case saying the Samsung tablets were not "cool" as the iPads, because the software did not feature the "extreme simplicity" that the rival Apple product has. 

Birss also ruled in the original case that Apple must run "advertisements" in British newspapers and on its Web site stating that Samsung did not infringe Apple's design patents and therefore did not break U.K. law. 

The notice on Apple's U.K. Web site must display the banner for six months in order to "correct the damaging impression" left by Apple following the legal wrangling.

Samsung welcomed the appeal, a spokesperson told the BBC News: "Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited."

But a lawyer representing Apple said at the time it would be "prejudicial" to Apple to issue such a statement without an appeal. (Even for quirky British law, it's a strange punishment to dish out.)

However, soon after the decision was made, Apple applied for a stay on the running of the so-called "advertisements," allowing the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant to appeal the verdict. 

Now that Apple has lost its appeal, it's understood that the advertisements will go ahead. There isn't a specific time frame for when they will be served out to the British media, but we have reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.

This story originally appeared at ZDNet's Between the Lines under the headline "Apple loses U.K. Samsung appeal; must run 'apology' ads."