TechWeek: How Apple Got a Sweet Deal

But too often, the decision about whether to fight or settle is more of an emotional than rational one. Creators think of their inventions as their "babies" and defend them as such. And in such disputes, technical arguments about whether an invention infringes on a patent can often turn personal, filled with accusations of lies and deception.

That certainly seems to have been the case in the RIM-NTP dispute, where the two sides seemed to passionately hate each other, notes Jeffrey Neuberger, an intellectual property attorney and partner in the New York office of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder and Steiner.

"Sometimes, the emotions and people's honor takes over rationality. As a result, litigation goes on a lot longer than it should," says Neuberger. "That's often a major factor in litigation."

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is often depicted as acting on impulse or emotion in his dealings with employees or with other companies. And, to be sure, Apple is not known as a pushover when it comes to lawsuits. The "legal proceedings" section of its financial reports is so plentiful it looks like a judge's weekly docket. As of May, the company was engaged in eight patent disputes alone, not including the Creative matter.

But when it came to patent dispute with Creative, Apple and Jobs seem to have checked their emotions and past at the door.

Yes, Apple is out $100 million. But that's a pittance compared with the $8.2 billion in cash and investments it had on hand. And it's also a drop in the bucket compared to what the iPod has meant to the company in terms of sales and earnings, stock appreciation and simple buzz.

What's more, Apple could see some of that $100 million back if Creative is able to license its patent to other digital music player makers. Given that Creative's patent now has the stamp of approval of the dominant company in the market, you've got to figure that the other makers will sign up quickly.

And adding Creative to Apple's list of "Made for iPod" accessory makers is just one more feather in Apple's cap.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad week for Jobs & Co. after all.

Ironically, this week merely continued a string of not-so-good news recently for Apple. The company's product announcements at its recent developers conference were disappointing; it's been facing scrutiny for the working conditions at the factories it uses to make its iPods; and with no update of its iPod lineup in about a year, Apple is facing questions about whether its well of innovation is drying up.

And then there's the cloud hanging over the company and Steve Jobs over "irregularities" in the company's past stock option grants.

Still, despite it all, the stock's done quite well. Since first announcing the problems with its options in late June, Apple's stock is up about 17%. This week alone, Apple's stock rose more than 1%.

In other words, investors seem to think that Apple's prospects are much brighter than its recent PR.

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TechWeek Scorecard
Index	Closing	Change
Nasdaq Composite	2140	-1.1%
Philadelphia Semiconductor	434	-2.7%
Goldman Sachs Software	164	-1.6%
TSC Internet	206	-1.3%

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