IT has a proud tradition of ripping off ideas
I could understand Apple's concerns if they had developed processes that Google developers had injected into Android without successfully reverse engineering. But patenting aspects of a look and feel aren't really much. It would be like Sony suing every other TV manufacturer for copying them using a metallic grey casing for TVs. If it can be achieved without even needing to reverse engineer...
As a consumer, it does disturb me when the legal system is being used as a market strategy. There's no victory for the consumer in this - if nothing else we have to worry about legal fees as part of the overall cost - as now we have to be concerned about any product we buy being at the whims of whoever won the race to the patent office and has the legal muscle to enforce it. And Apple's uncompromising stance to take products off the market instead of taking royalty fees is downright anti-competitive - they already have the biggest market share with their product and damn good marketing strategies, what other competitive edge do they need?
