A better example would be to say that Apple painted a portrait of a horse. It was incredibly popular, and sold millions. Apple then applies for the patent on "picture of horse using oil based color paints applied to a canvas medium".
Of course, since Apple's original painting was so popular, someone else takes Apple's idea of horse paintings and goes out to create their own. Ride the hype, as it were, and add their own flourishes.
...and, of course, they all end up in court, where they have to make lame arguments such as "Apple's horse is from a front on perspective, and the frame is oriented as a portrait. My client's horse painting is at a steeper angle, and uses a wider landscape frame. The fact that both horses are brown is completely beside the point. Apple does not own exclusive rights to brown horses. Now, what I want to draw your attention to next is the second in the Portrait of a Brown Horse series. Notice the barn in the background on my client's Landscape Painting of a Brown Horse. That's their innovation, and they have a patent for it. Now notice the background in Portrait 2. That's right. It's a barn. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case".
The end result of this case is likely to be that the lawyers make millions, the patents are invalidated across the board, the jury loses precious time out of their lives listening to this BS, and no one comes out happy.
Well, except for the lawyers, and the public, who now have tons of pretty horse pictures to choose from.
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