This comment frames it in a way that makes it sound like Apple is going to suffer some negative consequences solely because it asserted its own patent rights.

This comment frames it in a way that makes it sound like Apple is going to suffer some negative consequences solely because it asserted its own patent rights. Companies like Microsoft and Nokia collect royalties from companies like Apple and others by threat of patent litigation. By which I am suggesting that the “sword” falls on everyone, not just those who wield it themselves. Thus, it may be true that Apple wielded the sword and also true that Samsung is wielding it against Apple, but we cannot assert that companies who don’t wield the sword won’t find it wielded against them. I suggest that the underlying problem with the patent situation in a field as complex as technology is that since every non-trivial product seems to infringe on a non-trivial number of patents owned by a wide range of practising and non-practising entities, everyone ends up dying by the sword. Some pay by the month and die slowly, some resist and may face a more sudden demise.