Notably, Apple also tried and failed to sue Microsoft over the "desktop metaphor" in the 90s, which is also just as well. Things were quite different back then, to all of our benefit. No one had to pay 25 cents per copy to include scrollbars in their application, or 50 cents to include a dialog box.
Yes, but the article (and the "sponsored comment" at the end) also say that before the CAFC happened, it was a different, though equally painful, patent mess.
If anyone is curious about what happened to change things, it was these guys: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-a-rogue-appea...
Great article if you're interested in how we ended up in the patent mess we are in.