Apparently sarcasm doesn't go over too well with the U.K. Court of Appeal.

Last month, the court upheld an earlier judge's finding that Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy tablets do not infringe on the design of Apple Inc.'s iPad. The ruling, which will apply throughout Europe barring a successful appeal from Apple, resolves the European portion of a long-running patent infringement battle between the two companies.

As part of its decision, the court ordered Apple to post a notice of the ruling on its U.K. website, to “correct the damaging impression” that Samsung was guilty of infringement. Evidently choosing to follow the letter—not the spirit—of the order, Apple posted a small notice at the bottom of its website and made sure to quote the lower court judge who decided that Samsung was not guilty of infringement because its tablet was “not as cool” as the iPad.

In response, the high court ordered Apple to remove the statement and replace it with a new one that acknowledges the prior “untrue” and “incorrect” notice.

Judge Robin Jacobs criticized the California-based company's notice at a hearing Thursday. “I'm at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this,” he said. “That is a plain breach of the order.”

Apple, meanwhile, is having better luck stateside: In August, a U.S. jury found that Samsung had infringed six Apple patents and ordered the Korean company to pay $1.05 billion in damages.

Read more at Bloomberg.

For more InsideCounsel coverage of technology-related patent tussles, see: