I wasn't talking specifically of Apple here. I was talking about the ways in which markets may have nothing to do with end-users.

> Apple are doing nothing different from their competitors with regard to patents.

This is absolutely wrong. Some companies are more aggressive than others when it comes to abusing patent, trade dress, and copyright laws. How many trade dress lawsuits have you seen Samsung, LG, HTC, etc. initiate against Apple? In the recent past, a handful of Apple's patents were invalidated because of prior art. How many companies filed lawsuits against Apple when iPhone implemented these features?