The glorious Apple religion which brings hope to the hopeless is planning to purge the world of those who it thinks copy its perfect pattern.

Apparently Apple is particularly miffed at Palm's Pre multitouch smart phone which many punters think might actually be better than the iPhone. Apple's Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook taking a loaded question from a hack who said that the Palm Pre seemed to directly emulate the iPhone's innovative interface, said that he will not stand for companies infringing on our IP.

The Palm has a multi-touch interface which hacks in the US who have been drinking of the Apple cool aid claim is the same as the iPhone's.  They also say that since it was developed by Jon Rubinstein, formerly Apple's head hardware engineer, it must have been copied. However Palm spokesperson Lynn Fox said that if Apple wants to sue over the touch interface it should bring it on.

She said that Palm had a long history of innovation that is reflected in its products and robust patent portfolio and we have long been recognised for our fundamental patents in the mobile space. She said that if the outfit was faced with legal action, it was confident that it had the tools necessary to defend itself.

In other words if Apple wants to take on Palm it might find that it has breached a few patents of Palm's along the way and it could get itself into a tangled mess.