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iirc it was the XOR patent, here is one part of that story:

http://xcssa.org/pipermail/xcssa/2005-February/002587.html

I'm not sure if that was all there was to it and possibly there is room in there for a 'microsoft mole' somehow, but a single mole on the board of directors would be just a way to get information out, you can't destroy a company in a straightforward way.

And such a mole would have to be compensated very well indeed to survive the breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits that would be leveled at him/her if it ever came out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiduciary

It's no joke to be accused of stuff like that.



Hypothetically, would being the 8th largest individual shareholder of MSFT be large enough compensation to make a fiduciary suit an acceptable cost of doing business?


In some places breach of fiduciary duty is a criminal offense. So you may very well end up in jail.

I'm not sure there is adequate compensation for a risk like that. Being the 8th largest shareholder of MSFT might do the trick for some individuals but that's just another version of 'every man has his price'. For me I hope I'll never learn mine.




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