Apple Corporate

Apple is challenging a verdict from a Texas court last November that left it on the hook to pay security software company VirnetX $368.2 million in damages.

The news came tucked inside Apple's quarterly report, which was filed earlier this week, Computerworld notes.

"The Company is challenging the verdict, believes it has valid defenses and has not recorded a loss accrual at this time," Apple said in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The original complaint, which was filed in August 2010, accused Apple of infringing on four of VirnetX's patents … Read more

Apple is giving some developers a second chance at purchasing tickets to its annual developers conference, which sold out in just two minutes on Thursday.

The company has been getting in touch with what appears to be a handful of developers who attempted to make purchases when the $1,599 tickets for Apple's WWDC went on sale at 10 a.m. PT, MacRumors reports. Those developers have a ticket reserved for them, and will be able to make the purchase at a later date.

The purchasing window, which spanned about two hours last year, was brief enough that some … Read more

It's now more expensive to score a meeting with Tim Cook than to buy a brand-new Lamborghini Gallardo.

Bids for that meeting, which went on sale yesterday through charity bidding site Charitybuzz, were originally estimated at $50,000, but now stand at $210,000. They even reached $160,000 by the end of the first day.

The "power meeting," which promises half an hour with the CEO of the second most valuable company in the world, is part of a campaign to raise money for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. It's … Read more

Well that was quick.

After just 2 minutes, tickets for Apple's upcoming annual developers conference in San Francisco are gone.

The show took 2 whole hours to sell out last year. Apple caught many developers by surprise last April when it began selling tickets immediately upon announcing the conference at 5:30 a.m. PT. This time around the company gave developers a little more than a day of advance notice. The event will be held June 10-14 at Moscone West Center.

Apple's WWDC, or "dub-dub" as it's often referred to casually, is a mecca … Read more

Apple is increasing its research and development spending and is now at 3 percent of revenue compared with 2 percent in recent years.

The R&D spending was detailed in Apple's quarterly 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As Apple's sales have ramped, the company hasn't been able to increase its R&D spending. As a result, Apple's R&D spending as a percentage of revenue was in line with what Dell and Hewlett-Packard spend.

Apple CEO Tim Cook obviously sees the discrepancy. He should, since Cook was a former IBMer. … Read more

Apple will have to compensate three Chinese writers for infringing their copyright rights when it sold their books online without first seeking permission.

A China Daily report stated the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled in favor of the authors, and Apple will have to pay them in excess of 730,000 yuan (US$118,000) for the infringement. Apple had not gotten permission before selling their books on the Apple App Store, it noted.

The presiding judge, Feng Gang, said Apple has the duty of checking whether the books uploaded by third-party providers are in line with … Read more

Apple's plans to increase the number of retail stores it operates around the world are in full swing in Germany.

The company posted to its German site today that its first store in Berlin will officially open its doors on May 3. Oddly, Apple will open the store at 5 p.m. local time, rather than in the morning, as it has in previous store openings.

The Berlin Apple Store will be open from 10 a.m. local time to 8 p.m. local time Monday through Saturday. It'll be closed on Sunday.

(Via 9to5 Mac)

As Apple waits for the city of Cupertino, Calif., to give the final thumbs-up for the design of its new spaceshiplike headquarters, the company has been tinkering with the details.

Cupertino published the software giant's project update for the headquarters on the city Web site on Wednesday. Included in the documents are the project description, site and landscaping plans, floor plans, renderings, and a bicycle plan.

While a ton of information was submitted, it appears that the basic essentials haven't changed too much. The building still looks like a circular spaceship; in fact, many of the renderings in … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook is selling his time, and it's worth $50,000.

Cook is auctioning off a coffee meeting with himself at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., to raise money for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Nine bids have already been submitted on charity auction site Charitybuzz, with the current highest at $10,500.

Charitybuzz is calling the item a "power meeting" that lets a lucky winner "nab one-on-one access to one of the most powerful figures in tech and business." The meeting can run between 30 minutes … Read more