Well they weren't in the position to fight either. From Jobs biography, he wanted to, but he knew he couldn't survive long enough for the big payoff against Mic

Well they weren't in the position to fight either. From Jobs biography, he wanted to, but he knew he couldn't survive long enough for the big payoff against Microsoft “If we kept up our lawsuits, a few years from now we could win a billion-dollar patent suit. You know it, and I know it. But Apple’s not going to survive that long if we’re at war. I know that. So let’s figure out how to settle this right away. All I need is a commitment that Microsoft will keep developing for the Mac and an investment by Microsoft in Apple so it has a stake in our success." —Jobs quote from the bio quoted from the Forbes article about the situation