[NEWLINEtv]

Hi, over the past few months, I've read news stories about companies loosing against apple, apple seem to be using other's patents without paying for them and getting away with it. I don't have the stories to hand. I'm just wondering how on earth is apple getting away with it?, apple seem to be trying to patent every little thing they possibly can, and what ever they can't get their hands on, they just use anyways without paying for.

[whoever,hey]

They like to copy ideas then patent them aswell. Since they've lost all innovation they tend to now
Copy->Patent->Sue.

[Maxatoria]

Its quite simple Apple has 40+ billion in cash and most other companies don't even have anywhere near that so all Apple has to do is keep up the legal pressure and most companies will fold due to they can't keep lord knows how many legal staff at $1000+ per hour to fight their case which drains other companies till they cant take it and just give up even if they're in the right

Also Apple i think has hit a brick wall of new ideas and no 5 grams and 0.001mm and about 500 miles away according to apple maps does not make it a ground breaking invention but if you can keep the competition in legal traction for so long that by the time they release a product apple is seen as 2 steps ahead

But also remember apple is fashionable...if they slapped a turd in a unibody case and called it iTurd it would probably sell a few millions on release day

[tealady]

For every time Apple does it, there are likely many more doing it too, but you don't read about it, as it doesn't make good copy.
The conclusion in the mobile forum last year was that the patent system in the US is broke, so that just mangles it even more. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02...k_shop_design/ (as posted by flagpole).

[zx50]

In my opinion, they probably clicked on that they were on to a good thing by suing companies when they started winning court cases. This might be how their fortune's rising a lot for.

[MassiveDynamics]

Originally Posted by Maxatoria

Its quite simple Apple has 40+ billion in cash....

Apple reported they held $137 billion in cash (and equivalents) as of the end of December 2012, of that $94 billion was held outside of the USA for tax purposes.

Even with all that spare cash they have still lost some legal battles recently even in the US, they started off well but seem to be winning less now.

[Dark 1]

After they got royally rogered by Microsoft in the 1980s, maybe they figure it's once bitten twice shy.

They didn't invent the WIMP OS, but they did 'fine tune' it into an actual product ordinary people could use. Only to then see Microsoft come along and take home all the bacon and render them irrelevant. Now, seeing Google trying the same trick with the touch-based OS, I guess they figure their best defence is attack.

So there you go; it's all Microsoft's fault!