This is absolutely not what happened and a completely flawed analogy. One: there's talks, not lawsuit. Two: Apple claims it did clean room implementation w/o providing any proof. Apple could hire a third party to assess that w/o any risk of leaking anything to Imagination but decided not to. Because they're Apple and they can. Three: they have the upper hand here in terms of monies that they can spend. So it's not like they're this small boy strongarmed by a bully.
>So it's not like they're this small boy strongarmed by a bully.
I agree with all three of your points. Let me take a different tack to see if this makes my point more clear. Apple sued Samsung over rounded corners. The gall of them. As if anyone can own the concept of rounded corners.
Apple shouldn't be allowed to prevent other companies from building phones with rounded corner designs.
Imagination shouldn't be allowed to prevent other companies from building phones with GPU designs.
Clearly, both things happen. There are lots of phones now with rounded corners. Lots of phones with GPUs. But well placed litigation can hobble your nearest competitor or destroy a small one. The result is massive losses of productivity that could have enriched society.
All this thanks to the Capitalist idea that someone can own rounded corners or GPU designs simply because they have the most money. Capitalism rewards those with capital, not those who work hard and add value to society. Those two things are not mutually exclusive, but contributing to society is not a requirement and frequently does not occur.
Theoretically, a single super capitalist or small group of them could corner the market on everything and be rewarded for no other reason beyond ownership. Together, they could stop all progress. With companies like Apple sitting on $200,000,000,000 overseas, but failing to ship a new "pro" desktop since 4 years ago, this theoretical situation looks a lot more real every day.
