The main reason Apple is standing up is because if a developer settles with Lodsys and pays the royalties, they're actually violating their developer agreement with Apple (yes, it's true!). As a developer, you currently can't win.
Developers are legally between a rock (Lodsys) and a hard place (Apple), even though the infringing IP is provided by Apple, not by developers (developers use Apple's API to infringe the patent). I'm sure if some developers settled, Apple would give a bye, but right now this is an ugly situation that is creating a decent amount of fear between iOS developers.
As an iOS developer, it's good to see Apple letting everyone know they're looking out for their developer community.
But why are they just going after iOS developers? Don't Android developers do the same to some degree with the Android Market?