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Except it's totally not the same situation. Apple has been attacking every single android manufacturer plus google itself for a very long time. This is retaliation. Somebody HAS to deal with apple.

You mean, a company that owns a few patents essential to 4G, and who bought the secure DNS patents from SAIC 4 years before Apple tried to repatent them? This case has been making the rounds of investor bulletin boards for a few months, I'm surprised it hasn't attracted wider interest in the tech community.

Indeed, in which case there are extra penalties for wilful infringement.

I wish someone would explain it to Apple and VirnetX, who are about to go toe-to-toe on the issue of 4G and secure DNS patents.

...another patent case is brewing.

We need a repeat of SEA vs. PKZip, with Apple as SEA.

Done. When Apple's landshark shuts down a deposition so badly the judge has to smack Apple down, somebody fucked up.

The trolls very rarely get away with this stuff in a courtroom. Most of the time they settle out of court, because the defendant does not have the resources (in case of a small company) or it's just cheaper for them (in case of larger companies defending). Patent trolls are, most of the time, very scared of actually having to go to court. If this happens they will probably lose. And if they lose a dangerous, at least for them, precedent would be set.

Funny, these guys don't seem scared.

Meanwhile, did Apple invent Secure DNS, or did SAIC, who ended up selling the patents to VirnetX?

But then they make it next to impossible to get something on the iBookStore anyway

http://www.macnews.com/2010/08/10/gregs-bite-how-publish-apple-ibook

Book content requirements: ISBNs for all titles you intend to distribute. You must be able to deliver your book content in EPUB format, passing EpubCheck 1.0.5.
Financial requirements: A US tax ID, a valid iTunes Store account, with a credit card on file. .....

You must have an ISBN number issued for your book and you should reserve the title (see #1 and #2 below). Getting a bar code might also be a good idea. You must have a unique ISBN number for each book you post to the iBooks store. If you look at the jacket on any book, you will notice a ISBN number. It costs 25 for each ISBN number for each book. That unique number identifies your book in a giant data base along with the author's name, date of being published, title etc. You apply for a ISBN number at the following URL: http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/application.asp .

You can get a book title registered to prevent confusion by having an identical title with another book by going to: http://www.bowkerlink.com/corrections/common/home.asp . This is free.

You may also get a special bar code from the same web site at the following link: http://www.bowkerbarcode.com/barcode/ .

the only product Apple arguably could have been accused of having a monopoly on was portable music players, where there were plenty of competitors in the market.

Of course - with Apple there is no monopoly at 70%+ of a market, but if Google gets 65% of a market, then it has a monopoly!

Google search U.S. market share: 65.6% Nov 2011 [bloomberg.com]
Google search global market share: 69.7% q2 2010
iPad U.S. tablet market share: 82% May 2011
iTunes U.S. digital music market share: 66.2% q3 2010
iPod U.S. mp3 player market share: 76% July 2010

you can't even suggest that Google has a monopoly on web search around here without getting pounded with downmods.

monopoly
The exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.
The exclusive possession, control, or exercise of something: "men don't have a monopoly on unrequited love".

Google has lower market share in search than many Apple products do in their respective categories (figures latest I can find for each product):

Google search U.S. market share: 65.6% Nov 2011
Google search global market share: 69.7% q2 2010
iPad U.S. tablet market share: 82% May 2011
iTunes U.S. digital music market share: 66.2% q3 2010
iPod U.S. mp3 player market share: 76% July 2010

It seems to me that Google does not have a monopoly in search; it would be a funny monopoly that had 30% to 35% of the market controlled by its competitors. But if you insist that they do, then you should also say that Apple has various monopolies in its respective markets, and should similarly be subject to anti-trust scrutiny.