If Apple didn't take action this time, then another company would come along with bigger, badder stealing going on, and Apple can't sue them. Look up "Patent Nullification"

Source: My roommate used to work in the Indiana State Government (Senate, I think it was)

I agree with you, though.

As far as I can tell Apple is trying to make it so nobody can make anything that looks even vaguely like their products in any way, shape, or form.

Last time Apple tried this, suing Microsoft for imitating MacOS, they lost. Same with Lotus 1-2-3 vs Borland's Quattro Pro before that.

So not only have they been a bit trigger happy with the lawsuits they aren't learning from the past. This does not bode well.

They feel their intellectual property is being stolen and are trying to prevent that. "We have a strong predisposition to protecting what is ours. We have no such aversion to copying what other people have because we do that nonstop." There was another time when Apple had nothing and "stole" user interface ideas from Xerox.

1996 Steve Jobs: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal. We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."
2010 Steve Jobs: "I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

Quotes from Kirby Ferguson's Embrace the Remix http://www.ted.com/talks/kirby_ferg.....the_remix.html

thats exactly what im saying. If someone can take your idea and make it better it only makes you strive to come up with something new or better then them. Without competition in the same marketplace then advances in technology will come in strides and not leaps and bounds like it has the last 20 years. One idea is stolen or copied and then revamped and made better then the one before. This forces apple to try and come up with something newer and better but since steve jobs is no longer around to be the brain they must cling to what they have in order to keep their position instead of coming up with bigger and brighter ideas.
If apple had their way it would be our way or the highway and you would have the same Iphone every year or the same I-pad every year and only abismal changes would be made but thats pretty much what they are doing with their stuff right now anyways. like adding a new screen or a better camera. They havnt done shit with their user interface in years and im personally not the type to deal with the same thing over and over which is why id never buy apple. I can always count on it being the same but maybe a little faster or a different shade of white or a new screen or some shit. The GUI is always the same and thats fine for people who want something to stay the same all the time ......its predictable.....i like to see advances in tech and i like to see new ideas and form factors.

That's why I have to give a lot of credit to the open source community. Programs and software aren't really stolen, per se, but instead they are built on by anyone who has a need or desire to improve something, fix a bug, or make a big change. Then it gets released back to the community to be used or be built upon again. Makes it pretty much impossible to distribute malware, too; the entire open source community gets alerted, and either someone fixes the problem to remove the malware or the entire program gets shunned/banned/deleted.

Agreed, but thats how big company's work. Sadly, just like Disney

My funny Apple story is my friend's sister, avid Mac user.. sings its praises morning, noon, and night, CONSTANTLY coming over to visit to use his PC because she can't run shit on hers. Often because there is no Mac version or because the Mac Version was way too expensive. Now she has her own PC.

=^.,.^=

Well my father has a ipad2 and i have a BB playbook. I would not trade my playbook for the ipad any day.

Agreed

who cares

It's really bad for consumers in ways that are not immediately apparent. For example, if Henry Ford patented the car's user interface, the standard steering wheel and pedal system, then other manufacturers would had to have invented other ways to control a vehicle, some with joysticks, others where you steer with your feet and brake with your hands.

It would be like taxiing an airplane, where you steer with your feet and control the throttle by hand. Brakes are still on the pedals, though.

I want my iPhone 5! :D

You dont even use the smartphone you have now.......and theres even less you can do on an iphone and it costs more to use......apps in the apple market usually cost you money

It's a status thing. You wouldn't understand.