Apple for the day

Jacob Davidson has a Time article about Apple vs everybody:

In 2012, the Department of Justice accused Apple of conspiring with publishers to raise eBook prices. Publishers had been chafing under Amazon’s discount eBook prices, and the DOJ believed that Apple had helped them conspire to switch to a new licensing model using the iBooks store.
Winner: The Department of Justice. Apple was found to have “facilitated a conspiracy” between the major book publishers. A new trial will be held to determine damages, and Apple has vowed to keep fighting the charges.

In 2012, Apple unleashed a wave of lawsuits against Samsung Electronics, spanning multiple countries and court systems, accusing the Korean manufacturer of copying many of the signature design innovations of the iPad and iPhone.
Winner: Apple. While the company saw limited success outside the US, and was even forced by an English judge to publish an apology stipulating that Samsung did not copy the iPad, Apple won big on its home turf. The US court ruled that Samsung had violated a slew of Apple design patents, including the iPhone’s signature “tap-to-zoom” feature, and awarded the company over a billion dollars in damages. Samsung is appealing but, for now, Cupertino remains on top.

In 2008, Apple alleged that New York City’s new Big Apple logo— which was meant to promote a citywide sustainability initiative— was too similar to its own iconic symbol, so they contested the trademark.
Winner: None. Apple withdrew the claim after NYC agreed to delete the leaf from its GreeNYC logo, but the tech titan also received an avalanche of bad press for what was perceived as a crazy lawsuit.

 In 2007, Apple announced the original iPhone, setting the tech world ablaze. The only issue was, Apple’s iPhone wasn’t the first iPhone. Cisco Systems had previously released another phone product with the same name, and sued Apple for violating their trademark.
Winner: Apple. The two companies settled out of court, and Apple never ultimately delivered on Cisco’s request that it make the two products interoperable. Today, the only iPhone anyone knows about is the kind with a fruit on it.

In 2004, someone, presumably from Apple, leaked upcoming products to multiple tech websites. Enraged, the company sued the bloggers and demanded they reveal their sources.
Winner: Bloggers. After originally losing their case, the bloggers appealed and, in 2006, the California Court of Appeals ruled that bloggers did count as journalists, and as such were protected from having to reveal their sources by the shield law.

In 1994, Apple engineers codenamed the Power Macintosh 7100  the Carl Sagan, hoping the computer would sell “billions and billions” of units, a reference to one of Carl Sagan’s books. But the late astronomer, worried that that the internal-only codename would be construed by the public as an endorsement, sent the company a cease and desist letter. Apple complied, and changed the codename to BHA, short for “butt-head astronomer”. So Sagan sued for libel.
Winner: Apple. A judge dismissed Sagan’s claims of libel, noting that “one does not seriously attack the expertise of a scientist using the undefined phrase ‘butt-head’”. But Sagan sued again (this time alleging that his name had been misused), lost again, and then appealed that decision. Apple and Sagan finally settled in 1995, ending the brouhaha.

Rico says the only real winners here are the fucking lawyers...