That all sounds reasonable, but it's ultimately a flawed perspective.
Apple spent time and money to create the iOS interface and iOS devices. Why shouldn't they be allowed to protect their IP? They didn't create this stuff so Google and Samsung could copy their innovations. They're not battling their competition with litigation, it takes all three of the top mobile device manufacturers to outdo Apple's marketshare. Not to mention, Apple makes billions every quarter, with a blowout quarter set to end this year (new iPhone means huge numbers).
A lot of naive individuals will say Apple is scared, Apple is on the ropes, all this nonsense. Apple is one of if not the most financially secure company in the world, they're worth more than big oil for goodness sakes.
The reason Apple is aggressive legally is because Android is a blatant ripoff of iOS, and those who deny it are living in a fantasy world. Before the iPhone announcement, Android was a slightly modified Blackberry OS, after the iPhone was announced it became a very bad imitation of iOS.
Apple can do whatever they want, and one thing they like to do is protect their contributions to the culture of technology. The only reason it's a problem here is because it's Apple being aggressive, and gamers hate expensive things that aren't easy to waste time tinkering with. musicalmac
It's this simple: they shouldn't be allowed to protect their IP because their IP shouldn't be elligible for patent protection. Software is not supposed to be patentable, and even glossing over that little nugget the fact remains the vast, vast majority of software patents (including the ones Apple is routinely granted and uses offensively) are overly broad and lacking in inventive step.The reward for innovation in non-patent ellibile markets is that fact you have the latest and greatest widget to sell to your heart's content, and lo and behold (as you've been wont to point out), Apple's innovation has been rewarded with a commanding lead in marketshare and billions upon billions of dollars in profits.
So whether Android is a blatant ripoff is irrelevant, as they are (or at least should be) perfectly within their rights to rip off the core design and features of iOS to their heart's content (with the justification in IP law being this benefits the public interest -- who are kind of important to the whole IP thing -- by fostering competition and driving further innovation as a result). Let's flip this on its head: Apple sure as hell didn't invent cloud-based storage, so should they be barred from offering iCloud for the next 20-odd years? The iOS 5 notification bar was shamelessly stolen from Android, so should Apple be forced to revert back to the old, crime-against-humanity-tier pop-up notification system?
The answer is of course not, because that would be ridiculous. The notification bar is an obvious, common-sense way of dealing with notifications that can trace its history back to all kinds of PC menus, and cloud storage is a very, very broad concept. They're both tremendously innovative relative to what was offered before, but that doesn't change the fact they shouldn't be elligile for patent protection. The same holds true for virtually everything Apple has done with iOS.
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