The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has ordered Apple to pay the legal fees of competitor Samsung on an 'indemnity basis' after the company published a "false and misleading" notice in the wake of a patent lawsuit over the iPad. The judgement, intended to humiliate Apple, will require the company to pay a majority of the expenses associated with Samsung's legal defense, with any disputes over the exact amount likely to be resolved in the latter firm's favor.

Apple was ordered to publish the notice on the front page of its UK website after losing an appeal in October. But while the Cupertino-based company complied, it also added a number of statements which, according to the court, were "calculated to produce huge confusion" — among them, a reference to the separate US verdict that awarded Apple more than one billion dollars in damages. Under pressure from the court, Apple has posted a second statement on its website drawing attention to the previous inaccuracies:

On 25 October 2012, Apple Inc. published a statement on its UK website in relation to Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers. That statement was inaccurate and did not comply with the order of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The correct statement is at Samsung/Apple UK judgement.

Unlike in the US, losers in legal cases in England and Wales are generally expected to pay the fees of their opponents, but the requirement to compensate Samsung on an indemnity basis adds an extra degree of censure to an already unusual judgement. The decision comes as British and German courts engage in a proxy war over jurisdiction in cases involving so-called 'Community designs,' legal rights similar to patents which are intended to cover the entirety of the European Union.