Apple to pay legal fees incurred by Samsung

The legal battle between Apple and Samsung seems to be far from over. After a U.K. court directed Apple to issue an apology to Samsung for accusing it of copyright infringement over the iPad, Apple went ahead and posted a rather obtuse sorry-note on its UK website, which didn’t go down too well with the court.

Subsequently, Apple was directed to re-issue the apology, which the court rules as untrue and incorrect. To make things worse, Apple was required to post the new sorry-note on its home page within 24 hours of the court order.

It’s now a week since that happened, and now Apple seems to be in more trouble. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has ordered Apple to pay the legal fees of competitor Samsung on an ‘indemnity basis’ for all the trouble and costs that Samsung has incurred with regards to the iPad patent lawsuit. Any disputes on the exact amount are likely to be settled in Samsung’s favor. Ouch! That must have hurt bad.

It is a general rule in the UK legal system that the losers of a legal case are expected to pay the legal fees incurred by the opponents. The exact amount that Apple has to shell out now is not yet determined, but given the fact that it had gone all guns blazing against Samsung, it is sure to be a tidy sum. Looks like Apple won’t be getting into any more patent lawsuits in the near future, as Samsung laughs all the way to the bank.