Is it admirable when someone does the right thing for the wrong reason?
> While Apple invested in earlier IV funds, its reluctance to do so again may stem from the fact that it is being swamped by trolls itself
It is the wrong reason if you accept that patent trolling is wrong. Analogy: murder is wrong, so if someone only stops murdering people because their own family members were murdered, it would be the wrong reason.
It is also a bit of a guess to be honest, maybe they aren't getting a good return on investment or who knows maybe they just don't feel like investing in them any longer.
Corporations don't make decisions; they don't do anything at all. The people who control them do. "A corporation" isn't even a single abstraction; there are so many different kinds and even the same kind can be set up and run so many different ways that having any expectation (or lack thereof) of "a corporation" is meaningless.
A good result from bad intentions isn't admirable. A war economy can create jobs, among other things, but that result doesn't make going to war an admirable decision.
Nitpick - corporate leadership is responsible for the actions of those they lead.
Everyone knows what we're talking about when someone says "Microsoft did this" or "Y Combinator did that". It's a convenient shorthand that omits no useful information.
Nobody cares about the difference between an LLC and an S Corp and a Nonprofit when discussing corporate behavior (or lack thereof!) - their collective actions can and should still be critically evaluated through the same rubric.
The people that take those decisions are many and have various roles. The aggregate of them, we call a "corporation".
Think of it like an emergent entity. It's not just a person (e.g the CEO) making a decision all by himself. It's the whole leadership, the Board of directors, shareholders, the financial and market condition of the company, it's history etc.
In your logic, people don't take decisions and don't do anything either. Their brain does.
remember that not even patent trolls have tried to enforce design patents as IP before apple. They are really good at trolling. ALso, do not forgot job's emails to the RIM ceo during the valleygate.
They have agreements already so is not that is going to be a huge target anyway [1]
[1] http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/13/3239977/apple-and-microsof...
That said, this one act does not yet convince me that Apple learned its lesson. It's only a possibility.