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Originally Posted by QuadCityImages
Its one thing if you're fighting it out over the idea of pinch to zoom (even though I believe Microsoft was already doing something very similar during its work on Surface) which is somewhat a new idea.
However, some of their patents are so ridiculously vague and common-sense, that its just silly. Swipe to unlock? I think Apple stole that from every sliding switch that previously existed in the world...
The real issue at hand, is does this lawsuit help or hurt innovation and consumers. I don't see how anyone can claim it helps either in any way.
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Silly patents? If you don't file them, someone else does. So you aim for as broad and vague a patent as you can get, every single time you file. To do otherwise would be silly.
It's disappointing to realize that all companies have to play this game, but its been going on for a long time, and if you don't play, not only do you not have recourse when someone does rip your intellectual property off, you won't be around long enough to do anything about it anyways.
I also think that without patents, there is a very compelling case to say that innovation
would be harmed. Instead of having a means to do R&D, and then benefit by holding a patent and thus manufacturing exclusivity, you'd have tons of companies simply sitting around waiting for the next big idea to come along, and then copy it. There would be no incentive to invest in development, if someone else is going to do it for you.