Can you imagine Apple leaving its huge success story in the hands of a jury and risk getting majorly whacked? That would be a huge risk on their part. Not likely, imo.

Settlement would seem to be a calculated risk for going it alone, hoping small fries like EDIG fail and disappear and pay only if forced to do so.

Certainly we have seen some out of the ordinary types over the years working diligently to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) at every turn on EDIG threads.

Corporate espionage is a known factor. A former msft employee, years back, told me as much from his personal experience on another front.

It`s interesting how Creative found an interface infringement while there was no development contact early on as far as I know. EDIG can demonstrate pre-IPOD efforts with portalplayer and a handful of flashed based patents to support its case.

I sure hope they can deliver on this...