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Xerox made an IP deal with Jobs. Gates didn't do the same with Jobs/Apple until later after a settlement (not that I think he needed to).


They made a deal that allowed Jobs to inspect a PARC for one day, but didn't include anything like patent licensing.


Not only did Apple staff visit PARC more than once, some had actually worked there prior to Jobs' visit. The idea of getting Jobs to PARC was to help him understand the importance of technologies that others were already pushing at Apple.

Of course the way Steve Jobs told it, his one-day visit to PARC was the Eureka Moment of the Macintosh. It should surprise no one that his version of the story places him at the center of the resulting innovation. That doesn't mean it's the whole truth.


Trade secrets were the IP I was referring to in that example; software patents didn't exist at that point in time.


The deal was that Apple would buy a million in pre-IPO stock if Xerox "opened its kimono".




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