What are the license fees?
US$ 0.25 per end user system. That means if a hub has 1394 functionality, then the manufacturer owes 25 cents per hub. On the other hand, if an automobile uses 1394 (and it will if it uses IDB-1394 for entertainment networking), then the automobile manufacturer owes 25 cents per automobile. The fees are paid to the 1394 Licensing Authority, which then distributes shares of the fees to the various patent holders (which include Apple, Sony, Canon, ST Microelectronics, Matsushita, etc, etc).
Apple allows anyone to use the name "FireWire" for free providing that they sign a trademark agreement. Using the phrase "FireWire compliant" requires a different process.
So how did all these other stories (like the $1/port fee to Apple) get going?
When Apple was participating with the IEEE p1394 working group (I was chair *and* Firewire technical lead), we proposed licensing all of Apple's blocking patents for $3k, one time fee, and only for "the point of first use" ... the IC's that implement the protocols. Under that agreement, the IEEE agreed to include the appropriate patents in the standard.
Apple never intended to charge for the use of the name "Firewire" ... you could get it for free if you just signed an agreement to use it *only* for a product that was compliant with IEEE 1394-1995 (the original version of the standard).
After Steve Jobs came back to Apple, he was somehow convinced that Apple should change the game midstream and ask for $1 per port for the Apple patents (his argument was that it was consistent with the MPEG patent fees). I left Apple before Steve came back, so I have no idea how this really happened.
This annoyed everyone (including yours truly) immensely ... particularly Intel which had sunk a lot of effort into 1394 (the improved 1394a-2000 and 1394b-2002 standards are partly based on Intel work). The faction of Intel that doesn't like open standards like 1394 used this as an excuse to drop 1394 support and bring out USB 2 instead. (There are lots of other stories about this whole process, but this is my favorite).
Simultaneously, Sony and the other 1394 backers pushed hard back at Apple noting that they all had patents too .... and if Apple wanted $1 port, so did they ... which meant that Apple would have to pay about $15 to every else to do Firewire ... not a pleasant picture. The result was the "1394 Licensing Authority".
http://www.teener.com/firewire_FAQ/#Stories