Apple pays in order to distribute the codec on their devices, and since hackintoshes are very uncommon and iOS can't be installed anywhere else they aren't worr

Apple pays in order to distribute the codec on their devices, and since hackintoshes are very uncommon and iOS can't be installed anywhere else they aren't worried about those rare cases. Also Linux has nothing to do with video codecs. Microsoft and Apple have to pay because they are based in the U.S. VLC claims to get away with it because they're in France but the situation is not totally clear.