No they didn't. They just misunderestimated the difficulty of cloning it. There were lawsuits over the first (compaq) clones, and the cloners had to show that they were created in a "clean" environment, with no access to BIOS code, just duplication of functionality. On Jan 14, 2006, at 8:13 AM, Jim Robertson wrote: > Part of what made the PC engulf > the Mac in marketshare was the fact that IBM told anyone who > listened how to > make BIOS and welcomed them to do so. Aron S. Spencer, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, School of Management New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102