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Naughty-step Apple buries court-ordered apology with JavaScript

LOOK AT THIS iPAD PIC We are sorry about the Samsung case

Apple insisted it would take 14 days to publish a three-sentence declaration on its UK website that Samsung had not ripped off the iPad design. But in the 48 hours Judge Robin Jacob instead gave the Jesus mobe maker, Apple has managed to upload both the statement and a wad of JavaScript code that resizes the homepage's central iPad Mini image and pushes the apology statement below the "fold" of the page.

The result is that casual visitors to the Apple UK homepage, who are unlikely to scroll down the page, won't see the bottom bar and Apple's court-mandated position on the non-infringement of its registered fondleslab design No. 0000181607-0001.

The apology is only on the UK homepage, and we note that the page resizing script is only there too: the US page is sized and spaced as normal. You can see for yourself by taking off to apple.com/uk and then resizing the browser window - the "heroResize" code specifically keeps the bottom 310 pixels, containing the link to the statement, out of sight until you scroll down.

As pointed out by Reg reader Paul Smith, this image compares the US and UK Apple homepages: the guidelines show what is visible from a normal browser window. Note that the apology is not visible when you first land on the UK site.

The Apple apology has to stay up there until December, so you'll have plenty of time to check out the changes - just remember to scroll down. The link leads to a two-paragraph restatement of the court's verdict that Samsung's slabs did not infringe the iPad blueprints.

In another twist to the ongoing saga, Apple took out a second print ad in the Guardian today, following one on Friday, as spotted by Duncan Booth here. It is identical to the first one except with the new line at the bottom: "A notice issued by Apple Inc. pursuant to court ruling."

Did Apple get that wrong first time too? Will they ever get it right? ®

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