Originally Posted by chenks:
“again missing the point. it's the patent system that is flawed for allowing the patent to exist in the first place.
you can't blame any company for trying to protect something they think will give them an edge, the blame is in the system that allows them to do it.
HTC, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung all own patents that are ridiculous. I assume you also boycott every one of these companies as they also sue people whilst protecting their patents.”
I don't recall HTC/Google/Samsung suing for rather malicious reasons like Apple do.
The reason why those companies are arming themselves up with patents is to protect themselves if Apple do sue - it's always a good thing to be able to say "if you sue us, I'm sure we have a few patents that your product infringes on" with the result being a settlement or cross-licensing.
Google bought Motorola Mobility for largely that reason - since Motorola holds a ton of patents on mobile phone technology. That is also why Google gave some of these to HTC.