Apple isn't a patent troll
themactivist.com
themactivist.com
Of course the general consumer - Apple main customer today - does not give a damn about all this but developers, it is another story.
And it's not about defending Samsung, I don't give a damn about Samsung, it's all about that slight sense of discomfort I get now when I fire up my macbook. Completely irrational maybe, but last time I had it was about launching Windows.
I have to give a good look at those Google's notebook now...
http://scr3.golem.de/screenshots/1108/Apple_Samsung_Rechtsst...
Right, so why are they protecting of their own? A design which also existed before the iPhone?
Apple didn't invent any of the features; they just put it together in a unique way. They didn't patent putting it together in that way.
We don't have to be 'grateful'. They already earned billions from their idea, becoming the most valuable company on the planet.
I just don't see why apple needs protection considering how hugely profitable they are.
Because you can't have a double standard. Why would Apple not deserve protection and why other players should? Size? Profit? Would you want more of a patent system if it had a clause invalidating a patent past some profit made on this patent?
I for one would rather see the patent system go down, because it's supposed to push competitors to innovate, when in reality it pushes competitors to work around, which is completely counter-productive: instead of swimming along the current of innovation, everyone has to battle to swim against it.
If you're mad that patents consisting of obvious combinations, evolution's, and (ux) optimizations of prior or existing technologies are a thing: rail against that, not against Apple. In the end who really cares if Apple wins or loses their patent dispute, almost undoubtedly eventually a settlement will be reached and there will be some sort of patent licensing agreement reached and someone will be out a few billion in fines.
If this case started a movement that was more like: "I don't like how Apple is able to abuse the patent law, lets change how patents work", and then real patent law got changed, that would be huge not only in regards to this particular case but to the whole industry. That would make sense. The media/community drama now? I don't get it.
What I don't get is how people can justify using this argument.
Patent law is fucked up, so we get mad at Apple.
These two things are not alike, and the latter reaction doesn't really make sense.
I never said anything remotely close to the idea that I think what Apple is doing is OK, rather quite the opposite. But I'm not going to be mad at Apple about it because being mad at Apple accomplishes pretty much literally nothing. Instead I'll direct my frustration at the true cause of the insanity: the inane patent law itself.
They still have a bunch of terribly overbroad patents made by a broken patent system. And they're using those dysfunctional patents as aggressively as possible, which is exactly the same danger patent trolls pose.