Much apologies to Mr. Lucas on the play on words in the title (I am a big Star Wars fan), but it is apropo to the saga unfolding regarding the Android platform for mobile devices, and a microcosm of the larger patent battles being waged for turf in the mobile platform market. As first reported here, here, and now here, this market seems to have taken off since Apple’s introduction of the iPhone and now the iPad. Nothing like the competition to get the creative juices flowing in the mobile platform market…and the inevitable legal actions sometimes deemed necessary to wield intellectual property rights to protect market space (or otherwise grab a greater piece of it). In fact, its seems some of these smartphone providers (and perhaps Java as an “open” source platform) are destined to be “smarting” after all is said and done…something that may not seem…well…very smart (or open) at all. For some, however, such patent litigation is an absolute necessity for strategic survival in the mobile platform marketplace.