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Last week, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) announced that it has voted to initiate an investigation into whether or not Apple Computer products such as the wildly popular iPhone and Macbook illegally infringe upon patents held by Nokia. It’s just the latest development in a dispute that has raged since Nokia filed a complaint in October alleging that Apple broke U.S. intellectual property laws by using ten patent-protected technologies in just about every product the tech giant sells.

Not surprisingly, Apple responded to that initial salvo by filing a complaint in December alleging that Nokia is illegally infringing on 13 of its patents. And just a few weeks ago, Apple requested a similar ITC investigation into Nokia that has yet to be taken up by the Commission.

This merry-go-round of complaints, claims, and suits is not unusual in patent disputes involving major technology developers – which is probably why courtroom fireworks do not typically sway the Court of Public Opinion in such cases. Add arcane IP law to the predictable he-said/she-said polyphony, and it isn’t long before most audiences tune out to anything that doesn’t directly affect their own device usage.

Interestingly, though, this case may offer a way for Nokia to leverage public opinion in a way that few such cases usually provide. Nokia’s initial complaint states that, “In 1996, Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs appeared in the PBS documentary 'Triumph of the Nerds' and freely acknowledged Apple's use of others' ideas.” The complaint quotes Jobs as saying, “we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

Earlier this month, the Internet picked up the Jobs quote. The impact was less than thunderous, yet the opportunity still remains to broaden the issue beyond technical minutiae, and to make what’s tantamount to the adversary’s business model a point of contention. In turn, it could generate serious and useful discussion of the difference between stealing an idea and violating a patent.

In that PBS interview, Jobs quoted Picasso, “Good artists steal; great artists copy.” Picasso got away with it. We’ll see if Steve Jobs can too.

Leslie Valenza is Of Counsel at Levick Strategic Communications and a contributor to Bulletproof Blog. Connect with Levick on Twitter: @Levick.