Apple is litigating intellectual property disputes around the world and fortunately, several rulings have already been in its favor. In the pursuit of victory, however, sometimes the dogs of legal war go too far. In this week's Law and Apple, we are reminded that often there is only one way to deal with a bully.

Apple vs. NT-K

Last November, Apple added a small tablet computer maker from the Valencia region of Spain, Nuevas Tecnologías y Energías Catalá (NT-K), to its list of legal enemies. Cupertino accused the company of "copying" the iPad and, claiming design-related rights, forced Spanish customs to seize shipments form China containing NT-K’s Android tablet. Notably, this is the same "Community design" legal strategy Apple used to win injunctions against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7.7 in Germany. The action caused NT-K to be temporarily placed on an EU-wide list of product pirates.

Then, Apple took it to the another level: On December 9, 2010, Cupertino actually brought criminal charges against NT-K. Clearly, this was not a case of product piracy but rather a dispute over who controlled the design rights of the NT-K tablet. For Apple to go this hard against a competitor reeks of a big bully attempting to threaten and intimidate the little guy.

Start playing the Rocky theme right about here.

"It's absolutely outrageous that Apple tried to attack its rival under criminal law," wrote intellectual property activist and analyst Florian Mueller on his blog FOSS Patents. "Having a commercial dispute is one thing, but going down the criminal law avenue is totally unreasonable."

In this case, it appears the little guy came up stronger than Apple suspected. NT-K successfully defended its tablet in court, and is now suing Apple for monetary damages, lost profits, and "moral damages". NT-K is also pursuing an antitrust complaint against Apple, claiming that Cupertino engages in "abusive anticompetitive behavior".

According to the NT-K corporate blog (in Spanish), Apple has used this same tactic -- threatening or pursuing criminal litigation -- against other small companies, most of whom give in to Cupertino’s demands.

NT-K, however, stood its ground, and won.

Any company should be able to protect its intellectual property, and clearly Apple has substantial cause for many of the ongoing global lawsuits. However, particularly in questions of design, there is a huge difference between pursing monetary damages and licensing fees, and initiating action that could lead to someone’s arrest and incarceration. It’s not even a fine line that separates the two courses of action, and Apple was on the wrong side of that line.

(via FOSS Patents)