Apple’s $1bn win over Samsung in California should give inventors cautious optimism. It was an overwhelming victory in spite of a vacillating process that puts the onus on the patent’s owner to prove it has been copied, rather than?the infringer to prove it has not.

Lately, intellectual property cases have shown the global patent system to be complex and fickle, seemingly promoting plagiarism over progress and offering the holder little, if any, protection. Innovation is burdened by a double standard, by which it is deemed immoral to forge a painting or rip off a handbag, while copying others’ technology or industrial design is practically encouraged as part of healthy global competition. But it is akin to theft.

Apple won on home ground but in South Korea it received a split decision against Samsung. On Friday in Tokyo, Samsung prevailed. And in July in the UK, Apple lost to HTC. The British judge ruled that HTC’s slide-to-unlock function was a clear technological evolution, and thus not an infringement.