Apple Marks Earth Day by Trolling Samsung in Newspaper Ad

Apple usually refrains from attacking its rivals in ads these days, but the company has made an exception for Earth Day.

A full-page ad in some newspapers on Tuesday invited competitors to copy its sustainability strategy the way they mimic the brand's designs.

The ad comes as Apple is in the midst of a lawsuit with Samsung over mobile patent claims. The case looks at patents surrounding Apple's iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus III devices. Samsung faces damages up to $930 million. The late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs also charged back in 2011 that Google's Android operating system stole features from Apple's iOS.

This latest execution appears to be part of Apple's "Better" campaign, which the company introduced earlier this week. That effort features a 90-second film narrated by Apple CEO Tim Cook outlining the company's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, including using less packaging, recycling products and building data centers powered by solar energy.

The Earth Day push comes a month after a Greenpeace report on the technology sector, "Clicking Clean," singled out Apple for "significant improvements in their energy transparency" and called it "the most improved company" in the annual report.