these guys are operating within the law, that's their right. No argument that the law should be modified but until that point ... Apple violated a patent period.
this case went to the Supreme Court, read below:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Apple Inc's bid to avoid paying about $440 million in damages for using patent licensing firm VirnetX Inc's internet security technology without permission in features such as FaceTime video calling.
www.reuters.com
And today, even Apple files patents on things that they are not planning to take into production, you find examples in the news stories even on this site, and many many other companies do the same ... one of Qualcomm's larger biz model is to own patents and claim royalties, remember that there was a battle between Qualcomm and Apple?