Earlier today Dan Lyons posted a story to readwrite (nee ReadWriteWeb) updating yet another round in Apple's world-wide patent wars. This $hit has dragged on for the last couple years and is likely to drag on well into 2013 at least.

As Lyons notes, this time Apple lost a round, and the winner VirnetX is asking for major injunctions on sales of Apple products that were found to infringe. The injunction is way more important than the penalty, which amounts to slightly more than the bar tab at your typical corporate board meeting. Given that, Apple will have no choice but to appeal and the mess will drag on.

What made this article interesting to me was Lyons's "What's the Point?" section. He doesn't mince words, calling Apple's strategy "despicable" and asserting that Apple is "us[ing] the legal system as a kind of marketing tool, a way to smear [its] opponents". Apple, he notes, is doing everything in its power - particularly through this barrage of lawsuits - to give itself a public images as a pinnacle of original innovation from which all lesser mortals must copy. Prima facie evidence is its unwillingness to cooperate with a UK judge's order that Apple publicly correct the record after losing a case against Samsung.

I think that makes a lot of sense and provides an answer to the question of why Apple would embark on this crazy campaign in the first place. It's sad and shameful. Fortunately, as Android's market-share numbers continue to climb it's clear that the strategy isn't working. So please, Apple, can we stop now?