Microsoft Surface billboards...

There's a war going on out there at the moment. It's not loud and bloody and full of explosions, instead it's happening in the courtroom as technology companies battle it out over patents and intellectual property rights.

Meanwhile the online market is converging, companies are buying competitors and promising start-ups, computers are becoming tablets, tablets are becoming smartphones, phones are becoming computers. Everything is becoming smaller, slimmer, faster, more powerful, more mobile.

How is the everyday consumer supposed to know what the best option is when buying a new phone, laptop, tablet is these days? Better to have choice than none at all at the end of the day, at least it keeps everyone competitive.

Apple may have been first to market with its iPad, but that's not stopping other tech giants like Microsoft from trying to muscle in on this lucrative new territory with its new Surface tablet.

And with the Christmas gifting season fast approaching Microsoft has no qualms about spending big, quite literally, on billboards to make their new product as visible as possible around L.A.

There's no denying their 'click in' keyboard covers are pretty innovative, but there's something about these creatives which feel a little clinical and flat.

They seem to be missing the energy and vibrancy of the accompanying TV commercials and it probably doesn't help that Apple are well known for their predominantly white backgrounds in their fun ad campaigns either.

The blue giant-sized Surface billboards were snapped along Sunset Boulevard on October 29, whilst the tall pink version was photographed at the top of La Cienega Boulevard along Sunset Strip on November 3.

Meanwhile the standard landscape creatives were snapped along Sunset Boulevard and High Avenue on November 10 and 14, 2012 respectively.

UPDATED: Here's another creative for Microsoft's Surface tablet which is a tad more interesting than the rest, which was snapped along La Brea Avenue at Olympic Boulevard on November 22, 2012.

UPDATED: The billboards keep coming for Surface and here's two more colour creatives for the new tablet.

The pink version was snapped high over Sunset & Vine in Hollywood on a rainy December 2, whilst the blue keyboard creative with the kickstand was spotted along Sunset Plaza on December 4, 2012.

UPDATED: And yet another different creative spotted along Melrose Avenue on December 20, 2012.