Like said below, Apple isn't trying to defend its patents, it's trying to hobble the competition through litigation rather than developing those really great and innovative products they love to go on about. And of course Google is the real target here, but due to various legal machinations Apple can only claim damages against companies that make Android devices.
They've been stepping up their legal efforts over in Europe in a big way where iPhone/Pad/Pod sales are flatlining, and quite frankly Samsung is right: Name an area of the tech industry from software, computers, cell phones, printers, or whatever else, and everyone has been stealing ideas from everyone else since time immemorial. Windows and Mac OS could easily be said to be based on work from the Xerox PARC people, and there were other GUIs to come along, that have largely been forgotten, which are showing ideas that would be touted as some great new "innovative" feature by Apple or Microsoft 5 years later.
There was nothing particularly new about the iPhone when it came out. Smartphones existed before, touch screen devices existed before, MP3 players existed before. Everything about the iPhone was old hat by the time it came out. The only thing Apple did was manage to package all of these things together in a way that worked better than anything else at the time. They absolutely deserve credit for raising the bar on smartphones, touch screens, etc. However, when they then turn around and try and claim credit for inventing some of these things, they should be laughed out of court. Unfortunately, that's not the way our legal system works.
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