The driving philosophy of corporate America used to be based on the principle of in-house development. If it wasn’t made in-house, companies simply weren’t interested. Companies wanted things over which they had full control, and from which they could enjoy 100% of the profits. Total independence. Total control. If a good idea came along that wasn’t developed in-house, the temptation was to find some way to tweak it and claim that it was developed in-house.

All of this led to some pretty nasty lawsuits. One of the best known cases, popularized in the movie Flash Of Genius, was that of Robert Kearns. Kearns was a Detroit engineer who developed the electronic intermittent windshield wiper for automobiles, getting his first patent for it in 1967. When he failed to get the major automakers to buy his idea and then saw them come

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Xerox Corp. (XRX) sharply cut its first-quarter earnings forecast to between 3 cents and 5 cents, compared to the previous guidance of 16 to 20 cents.

The already lowered consensus estimate for the quarter is 18 cents.

Shares have plunged more than 14% amid higher-than-normal volumes.

The maker of copiers said the reduction included a 6-cent impact arising from Fuji Xerox's restructuring coupled with a lower-than-expected Fuji Xerox profit contribution. The company also expects enterprise spending on technology to continue its downward trend in 2009.

Xerox further stated that it is on course to save $250 million this year from previous restructuring initiatives and have identified a further $300 million in expense reductions. The company is also reducing debt in the current quarter and plans to access credit markets "only on an opportunistic basis."

Earnings estimates for this year have been cut 2 cents over the past month

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