With a list of allegedly infringed patents as long as my arm, Apple could be considered as filing this lawsuit with nothing but the idea of getting what’s rightfully theirs. I imagine that’s true as far as it goes, but there’s a little more to it and I think this conflict may expose even further the cracks that are appearing in our patent and trademark system.
I was going to write a big ol’ thing on this, but the fact is that I’d just be duplicating the analysis over at Brainstorm Tech and Daring Fireball. The situation is evolving, and we’ll see how the cookie crumbles — but either way, there are many intelligent things to be said about the patent system and how what was designed for the industrial age doesn’t work in the information age.