It appears as though Apple has become more deeply engaged in patent warfare — transferring patent rights to a patent troll so that they can pursue lawsuits against other mobile handset makers. For more on this tactic, the goto resource is episode 441 of This American Life, When Patents Attack! I’m sure Apple’s response to criticism would be, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” but I reserve the right to hate both the game and the players. Apple is one of the most profitable companies in the world, it can afford to stay out of the gutter.

In other patent news, Marginal Revolution blogger Alex Tabarrok argues in his new book that our dysfunctional patent system is holding back innovation in the United States.