Yeah. The patent system clearly fosters innovation and clearly doesn't need an overhaul.
And even if it weren't, Apple has the legal manpower and the money vault to lawyer them into the ground.
In some areas of litigation, it might be possible for one side to draw out the case, and to do other things that raise the cost, so that it is possible to force the other side to abandon their case due to budget constraints.
Generally, patent infringement litigation is not one of those areas. A patent infringement case can be expensive for the plaintiff but the costs are reasonably predictable, and a pretty good upper bound can be estimated going in.
There are large, experienced, patent litigation firms that will take cases like this on contingency. They have more than enough set aside for these kinds of cases to cover anything that defendant can do to run up costs.
As far as legal manpower goes, Apple would have to hire an outside firm. Yes, like all large companies Apple has a good and competent legal staff, including IP lawyers. However, they won't have the experience of those at outside firms that specialize in IP litigation. When it comes to legal manpower, the case would come down to lawyers from a top IP firm working for plaintiff (probably on contingency) vs. lawyers from a top IP firm working for defendant (getting paid by the hour).
You can see a series of examples of this if you look at patent suits against Microsoft. Microsoft often uses Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which is one of the top law firms in the world. Plaintiffs against Microsoft are often represented by McKool Smith which is one of the top 3 or 4 patent litigation firms in the US. The net result here is that it doesn't matter how big Apple is compared to the patent owner, they are not going to out manpower them--both are likely to be represented by top 10 IP firms of about equal power.
If Apple is going to play the role of "Lord of the Manor" and demand tithes and make arbitrary rulings on what they like and don't like, then it's also their duty to go and fight off the brigands.
But suing Apple's tenants and Apple itself surely does not yield the same reaction, even if Apple has its platform's best intention in mind.
Now we've sunk to the point where the local feudal lord only halfheartedly protects his own interests, so long as the rocks aren't landing directly on his keep? Same as it ever was.
(Also, look at the state of discoverability in the iTunes infrastructure. It's the same principle, or lack of it. And, certainly, Apple is far from the only company to be so short sighted.)
(Note, I am an avid user of Apple products and an iOS developer.)
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Shouldn't the Department of Justice have powers to investigate this sort of abuse of the patent system?
Unfortunately, most legislators from my state seem to believe in business by extortion. I'm so frustrated with them I've given up even communicating with them. Does Hatch ring a bell? :(
Now certainly I don't like it - but the law is on their side, at least until/unless it gets changed.