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Microsoft stands to benefit from getting their private code exposed, because they can use it to claim that open source competitors are ripping it off. https://e

• DoctorOW 7y ago
  From your Wikipedia link: > Also, the 2004 leaked Windows source code was not seen as legal risk for ReactOS, as the trade secret was considered indefensible in court due to broad spread. This sounds like Microsoft can't benefit from a public leak.
• austincheney 7y ago
  That sounds like a fairly weak argument, because IP protections still apply to open source, except for trade secrets. The degree of protection is dictated by a project's license, or if in the absence of a license then a nation's default copyright status. In your first ReactOS example from 2006 it wasn't even Microsoft that discovered or claimed the problematic code violation. It doesn't look like Microsoft was involved at all.