One could argue that Robert Kearns, Edwin Armstrong, Walter Avrea, or Gordon Gould were all just filing rediculous lawsuits when they filed suit against big companies. They could have moved on to new things and not spent so much time pursuing damages in court. Yet our society looks to these men as an inspiration. They had an idea, the patented it, then they tried to protect it from big corporations.

One could argue that settling out of court is a good thing also, and not the silly negativeness it’s portrayed as. First off not all aspects of a settlement are disclosed. So while we may hear that this guy is eventually paid off with millions, what we may not hear is that as part of the settlement Apple gets the patent, or the guy agrees not to file suit against future Apple products that violate the patent. Make no mistake, if somone uses technology Apple has a patent on they will sue to protect their share of the market.

There is little doubt in my mind that corporations like Apple violate patent law all the time. The reality of life is that with competition in R&D between companies someone will cross the finish line first. If another company then thinks it’s fair to use that technology the other guys thought up without paying them then the company is in the wrong.