Litigation or innovation? It's a common phrase in my line of work that covers both avenues of the technology consultant's life. Innovation is what we try to detect or uncover. Actually it's more often about dissecting the press releases, white papers and other corporate marketing collateral to determine if any innovation or even worthwhile incremental improvement is indeed present in the new product or revision. Litigation is the bread and butter for so many of us when inventors and their companies hope to protect their innovations through the courts. In that case, we identify the invention present in the infringing product.

So "Litigate or innovate?" is a natural phrase to launch a tech analyst's blog post. And it is a phrase that has been repeated many times by many a pundit's comments on the Apple lawsuit launched against smart phone manufacturer HTC a few weeks ago. I'm not the first to ask and nowhere close to the last, but "What is Apple up to?" Fridays seem to get me into this mode (non-work TGIF, that is). I guess that's why I post on Fridays so often. (That is not to suggest that I have been posting frequently. Sorry, it has been far from it.)

At least inside the circle of Apple aficionados, the company is viewed as an innovator, constantly pushing the boundaries of technology. If a particular Steve Jobs vision does not include a truly new invention, it never fails to take one and turn it into a useful (dare I say, "Enjoyable?") product. But does the odd lawsuit really deflect corporate attention or dilute the pipeline of product innovation?

One argument supporting Apple's litigious behavior is that many competitors have them in their crosshairs. Apple has been busy launching countersuits against various smartphone rivals. The initially unexpected and continued success of the iPhone made Apple a prime target for patent holders. They have been busy defending themselves, and perhaps it was just natural to lash out or perhaps fire some pre-emptive strikes.

Back to the pundits and "innovate versus litigate," there are a few who think that the distractions at Apple go beyond the recent lawsuits. Other issues that are taking Apple's focus are the iPad and the building feuds with Adobe, Amazon and Google. Okay maybe in the Google case, we should lump that in with the HTC lawsuit since most people believe it to be a shot across that dreadnought's bow.

Well, it's time to wrap it up. The weekend is upon us. More thoughts to follow in upcoming posts and watch the EE Times site for a future article that promises to provide real analysis. Note: For excellent coverage of Apple activity rumors (and the best sources for these) I follow MacBreak Weekly on the TWiT network. Some good blogs to check out are TUAW, MacRumors, The Macalope and AppleInsider.

— Don Scansen is an independent technology analyst, a licensed professional engineer and a senior member of the IEEE. This commentary was originally posted on his blog, SemiconDr.