[mythz]

That's correct, the ruling was for the TRO. But this still doesn't answer why "They needed to do it this way", i.e. why was their willful subversive violation a prerequisite for their lawsuit against Apple & how can that be advantageous to the party committing the violations?

So far it hasn't been. It appears obvious their approach was to first inflict PR damage & garner public support prior to commencing legal action.