RE:Legal fees McKool Smith was on contingency. But these contingency programs work on a slider scale. If there are multiple jury trials and retrials that just increases the % of the take. A full jury trial to appeal costs $10 Million.
McKool Smith ultimately charged VirnetX $36 Million. And they had three trials to deal with.
I think $30-35 Million in the US makes sense. Not sure how much the Canadian fees and German fees would add up as they were still at initial stages. But with another US jury trial, three German infringement and 3 damages trials as well as the long drawn out Canadian process... it would be another $10-15 million a year in fees.
And if there was no agreement with Apple, it would be impossible for an acquirer to handicap how big the McKool Smith payment would be and what they could be on the hook for. McKool Smith actually sued VirnetX because they wanted even more $$$.
Unfortunately, long drawn out processes just increase the lawyer's take.