Apple accused of making Samsung apology difficult to find in latest twist to patent infringement case

Reddit users accuse Apple of using coding to keep Samsung apology out of clear view.

Who is 'coolest' - Apple or Samsung?

Apple has been accused of manipulating the coding on their website to make an 'apology' to Samsung more difficult to find after losing the latest round of their ongoing tablet patent infringement case.

Apple replaced an apology on its homepage stating that Samsung’s tablet did not copy its design after judges ordered that an “untrue” notice be amended.

Users of the website Reddit, however, accused the company of inserting a piece of coding that made the new apology more difficult to find.

The piece of code is alleged to increase the size of an iPad Mini advert so that users of Apple's site have to scroll down the homepage for the Samsung apology to be visible.

Reddit user Poodlemastah wrote: "It is there specifically to get the bottom 310px of the website out of view. Independent of screen resolution. This is blatantly just to get the statement out of view from most people."

The JavaScript resize code does not appear on the main Apple US site.

Apple has already been asked to replace the notice once after it was deemed by judges to be "untrue" and "incorrect".

The UK Court of Appeal told Apple to remove the notice within 48 hours last Thursday and replace it with a new notice acknowledging the inaccurate comments.

The replacement notice on Apple’s website is shorter but does not appear to acknowledge any inaccurate comments.

Apple had been ordered to post the advert after it lost its case against Samsung who, Apple alleged, had infringed its design patents in the UK.

Apple lost the patent case and a subsequent appeal on October 18, in which the court upheld the previous decision that said Samsung's Galaxy tablet did not infringe upon Apple's patents.

Apple was ordered to post a notice of the court’s decision on its website for no less than six months to “correct the damaging impression” left by its suit against Samsung.

Part of the original notice included excerpts of other rulings from around the world that favoured Apple.

One paragraph read: "While the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad."

Apple made a request for 14 days to make the changes, but this was rejected.

The new notice, which is shorter than the original, simply explains the outcome of the ruling and the areas it affects.

A small link at the bottom of Apple's UK homepage points to the Samsung / Apple UK judgment.