On: Apple increased R&D spending by $1 billion in 2012

[eta_carinae]

I wonder by how much their lawyer budget increased over the past years.

[JoeCortopassi → eta_carinae]

Worthless Apple bashing over subjects that have been beaten in to the ground, as late as today, have little use here and only drag down the conversation

[guelo → JoeCortopassi]

The article and Apple's filing mention the legal costs of litigation.

[rayiner → eta_carinae]

Estimates of Apple's legal fees for Apple v Samsung (a multi-year case) range from $20m - $100m, with the higher end being if they gave a "performance bonus" for the win.

This fight was personal, though. Apple hired two top firms to litigate the case--it seems like they spared no cost to win.

[Retric → eta_carinae]

Apple has broken even on lawyers fees, so it's not exactly a cost center like R&D.

[taligent → eta_carinae]

I think it would be comparable to most of their peers. Many companies e.g. Google, Samsung, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, HP are routinely involved in legal issues.

Google will likely top that list over the next few years as they take over from Microsoft as favourite government whipping boy. Especially now that the FTC just recommended anti-trust investigations over FRAND abuse.