(to re-cap...)
It's like saying 'stop spending money on securing your house, that's boring, just buy more stuff to put in your house. If you buy enough nice stuff for your house, it doesn't matter if you keep getting robbed!'. That's not a good plan.
I'm sorry the above analogy doesn't make any sense. It's more like sueing a neighbour with a similar home... Which is pointless. If you're secure and confident with what/how you've equipped/styled your home, you shouldn't be upset about been copied. rather you should be flattered knowing nothing is quite like the original...
The analogy does make sense, but I guess I wasn't clear enough on it. Apple claim they have ideas/innovations (patents) which Samsung (or whoever) did not have until they stole them from Apple. It isn't a case of just 'copying', because the patent can only belong to one of them.
The idea can be copied, but the patent can't.
So when Apple spend a lot of money and time innovating, then successfully patent the fruits of that work, they have every right to protect that uncopy-able thing, because it protects their ability to profit from their investment. If they don't defend the patents they have ('secure their house' in my analogy) then anyone can walk in, and take the patent (the uncopy-able thing that means only they can profit from the investment) and also profit, but having not made the investment (or not managed to patent a similar idea in time).
Now, Samsung, or whoever, can challenge the validity of a patent, or challenge the charge of infringing it, that is fine. What isn't fine is company B using company A's investment in time and money for free and then expecting to remain unchallenged on it and company A just saying 'ah well, we'll make even more investments to try and make up the lost business and hope company B doesn't use our ideas for free again!'.
And sure the whole system is broken, and it virtually guarantees a string of ostensibly stupid lawsuits when you look at them individually, but Apple didn't write the rules, they just have to work with them the best they can.
'Don't hate the players, hate the game'.