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Comment by ForrestN | Hacker News Reader

This is absurd and frustrating. Apple is not responsible for the broken patent system.

Apple is a public company. If Apple decided to hold itself to a set of standards more stringent than its competitors, it would be hampering itself and acting against the interests of its shareholders. Complain about, and work to fix, the system. Don't expect Apple to fix it by ceding the rights it currently has to its competitors. Especially when, as a company, Apple genuinely seems to believe that the blatant copying of iOS in Android is unethical.

Also, you know Samsung has filed similar suits around the world, and in no way is opting out of the patent system, right? Buying a Samsung as a fuck-you to patent law is a joke. They aren't working to fix the problem. They're just losing.

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Would you ever think about patenting a double touch interaction when you were the first to implement a double click action on a touchscreen? I think these things are so obvious I would even be ashamed to call them my innovation.

If you think it's obvious, Have you ever tried to double click the screen or pinch an image on your old Palm Pilot hoping the size would change?

Well the Palm Pilot isn't multitouch so ofcourse you can't do a pinch there. But double click just works out of the box on almost all devices when an existing OS is used.

I think you should give this a read: http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html and notice these words: "What I am pointing out, however, is that "new" technologies - like multi-touch - do not grow out of a vacuum."

Just because you can, doesn't mean that you have to. Look at Google. That's a nice company, which keeps the patent trolling down.

Oh, so now that Google has bought Motorola, they've stopped Motorola suing Apple?

I would not be surprised if suing Apple was a pre-condition of sale for Motorola.

Right. Just because you can doesn't mean you have to, but it does mean you can.

This is little more than a new round of the CSR debate.

I find it hard to fault Apple for cashing in on the ridiculous legal system.

hypothetically, if grinding babies was legal, would you also find no fault with those who chose to partake, after all its perfectly legal.

Hate the game, not the player, right?

Apple genuinely seems to believe that the blatant copying of iOS in Android is unethical.

Its unethical because the Android - iOS relationship can be narrowed down to one person...Eric Schmidt. He sat on the board of Apple, absorbed the process of Apple getting into the smart phone market, then emulated it at Google while he was CEO there. Although to be fair, Android innovates in some areas where iOS does not explore (running the JVM on smartphones).

In this case, no. It was a case against Samsung, not Google. And was about Samsung's hardware and their own implementation of Android.

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