The patent wars exploded. And kept exploding. The health care case turned out to be an Indiana Jones cliffhanger. (Too bad there were no cameras.) And financial reform chugged along like the slowest freight train stuck in Nebraska.

These were some of the big stories in 2012. The first two grabbed center stage when Apple Inc. won a billion-dollar verdict versus Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a victory to Barack Obama that surprised nearly everyone.