Following allegations that Apple may have purposely doctored a photo of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to elicit an injunction from a German court, there are now new allegations that Apple is up to the same photo-resizing tricks in The Netherlands. According to Webwereld, which originally noted the photo irregularities in Apple's German court filings, Apple has now submitted a flawed comparison of the iPhone 3G and Galaxy S smartphones in its Dutch court filings.

During the hearing for Apple's huge injunction request in The Netherlands, Samsung's lawyer accused Apple of "manipulating visual evidence, making Samsung's devices appear more similar to Apple's." Webwereld combed through a copy of the complaint submitted to the Dutch court and found that photos comparing the iPhone 3G to a Galaxy S phone are either "wrong or manipulated."

The photos of Apple and Samsung's competing tablets submitted to the German court were allegedly squished to make the Galaxy Tab's aspect ratio more closely resemble the iPad's. In the Dutch filing, side-by-side photos of the iPhone and Galaxy S were merely sized to be the same height. Webwereld makes no claim that Apple manipulated its dimensions or aspect ratio this time around, but suggests the photo is inaccurate because the Galaxy S is actually slightly larger than the iPhone.

Now that there are accusations of improper evidence in both the German and Dutch actions, some wonder whether there's a pattern of Apple purposefully doctoring photos to convince judges that similarities exist where there are none. Given the stakes in both these cases and the potential legal sanctions for presenting misleading evidence in both jurisdictions, however, this seems far from likely.

Intellectual property analyst Florian Müller told Ars that there are two possible negative outcomes of these accusations: that the differences between the images are outcome-determinative, or that Apple could be reprimanded for presenting misleading evidence to the court even if it isn't outcome-determinative. In other words, the differences could be enough to change the opinion of the court, or they could be enough for Apple's lawyers to get in trouble even though it wouldn't change the court's decision.

Müller doubts that the images are outcome-determinative for the case in The Netherlands. "Apple has asserted in its Dutch complaint several technical patents, unrelated to the size of the device, and a Community design that's also about a shape rather than a particular size," he said. Furthermore, Apple clearly noted that there is a size difference between the two devices in its legal filing.

There is also doubt that the image differences noted by Webwereld in the German case would be enough to sway the court. According to BBC News, the judge in Germany did not base his decision against Samsung on Apple's photos alone. He also physically examined both devices before deciding that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 likely violated Apple's registered Community Design enough to issue an injunction.

Müller told Ars that Apple and its lawyers could face a reprimand in German court, but he doesn't believe such an outcome is likely in Dutch court. "In the German case, some kind of administrative oversight is possible," he said. "In the Dutch case, I wouldn't even say that. It's just that someone decided to scale both devices to the same height in the complaint—maybe not the best choice, but nothing devastating."

Mark Krul, a technology and IP lawyer based in The Netherlands, told Webwereld that he was astonished that "incorrect photographic evidence" had been discovered in both cases. "This is not appropriate and undermines Apple's credibility both inside and outside the court room." Krul conceded that the mistakes weren't likely attributable to malice. However, he said, Apple certainly has some explaining to do, if only to clear itself from the appearance of improper behavior.