Apple must run a national ad campaign saying that Samsung did not copy them, a High Court judge ruled yesterday - according to this Bloomberg report and a draft court order seen by The Reg.

Judge Birss of the Patents Court instructed Apple to run ads displaying the notice in newspapers and magazines including the Daily Mail, Financial Times, Guardian Mobile magazine and T3 magazine.

Apple must also display a "Samsung didn't copy us" notice on its UK homepage for 6 months. We understand that the judge rejected Samsung's proposal that all of Apple's European sites display this notice.

According to the draft order, the statement to be published on the UK homepage and in the print press will say that Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers do not infringe Apple's registered designs.

Judge Birss passed judgment on the case on 9 July stating that Samsung had not copied Apple's iPad, notably saying that the Samsung Galaxy Tab designs were less cool.

Apple's Alan Hely told us that Cupertino is not commenting on the decision. Samsung issued the following statement:

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.

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