[djf]

IBM could fire everybody, hire a trustee and close it’s doors tomorrow and STILL make boatloads of money every day!

I believe they hold more patents than any other corporation in history. Some fantastic number like one out of ten or one out of twenty of the patents ever issued.

[Dr. Sivana]

Some fantastic number like one out of ten or one out of twenty of the patents ever issued.

That may be so, but as long as they are legit patents for ground-breaking stuff I'm good with that. Also, patents have a reasonably finite shelf-life. IBM has to keep the goods coming. You might want to ask Pfizer about that problem.

[NVDave]

There used to be two powerhouses of blue-sky research that could later be developed into products: One was IBM, and the other was AT&T, aka “Bell Labs.”

Thanks to breaking up the phone company, Bell Labs is a shadow of it’s former self.

[blam]

"I believe they hold more patents than any other corporation in history. Some fantastic number like one out of ten or one out of twenty of the patents ever issued."

I filed a patent in the mid 80's on an advanced chip-making technique. The patent office denied the patent based on an patent (3 actually) awarded to IBM in the mid 60's. (for crying out loud)