[David]

"If MicroSoft figures out the technology, even if there is a patent, can MS use it? pardon my ignorance" [Somebody else got it first?]

No.

[MIT-Elephant]

You can reverse-engineer technology and use it, but to make it legal you have to jump through hoops...like you have to pass the specification from the discovery team to the implementation team with no contact between them.

It's quite exquisite, actually. This puts big companies (the smart ones, at least) at an advantage, since they can put out huge teams to 'pop the top' on competitors' products.