Their PR / legal team acting like children when they don't get what they want is a genuine harm to their brand. It's amazing to me that these press releases are approved.
Their non compliance was impressive. They changed the website to ensure users wouldn't see the footer with the link without scrolling. Then they edited the notice's wording by adding paragraphs in the middle of it - and sentences in the middle of paragraphs.
I really think there's some Americanism behind it. Like, "we don't care what you foreign authorities think".
I don't know who these statements are for, aside from the most devoted Apple fans. I feel like investors would be happier with shorter, more professional communication.
He pulled some childish moves that the public found out about (Engadget being banned from reporting on Apple when a reporter wrote about an iPhone prototype they found in a bar or something is one of the next examples I can think of) but it wasn’t Apple officially behaving childishly in public.
In any case, most of the broad public is not really aware of these things at all. So I doubt it really tarnishes their image much.