Plfm,
I am far from any kind of expert on this stock but maybe I can answer some of your questions:
1. The past price and current price are of two very different companies. There is nothing left of the old gold prospector that sold for up to $8 beyond the corporate shell.
2. The company is now a non-operating patent troll in the words of your fine president and congressional hac - er, statesmen and judges. There remains some interference from that old rag, The Constitution, that nobody much cares about anymore but it does provide some hope for those who think inventors might deserve some reward as the founders thought. Mighty monopolists use patents as a sword and shield but disregard them altogether when dealing with peasants since they own the politicians and judges.
3. How did Microsoft manage to glom onto a ton of intellectual property from work done by others and defend it even against Steve Jobs' Apple? You will have to ask somebody else for the gory details. All I know is that Bill Gates doing it all in his families garage is myth. Windows was originally a real operating system - DOS [Disk Operating System] - originated by Bell Labs, if a foggy, failing memory serves one last time.
Jobs was beaten in court while small fry were either ignored or bought out.
Jury - Twelve people who decide which side has the better lawyers
Apparently Gates knew how to select crackerjack lawyers. Whether he was much of a programmer is unknown to me and meaningless in any case.
4. Vringo [VRNG] is the current hapless ant trying to get a bite out of the reigning bull elephant, Google. VRNG seemed smushed just a few days ago when two appellate judges, out of three, who probably never wrote a line of code thought Vringo's software was obvious and the patents worthless despite the millions spent previously on juries and hearings and all that. A recent decision by the Supreme Court in another case that says that appellate judges should listen up when knowledgeable people speak has given a bit of life to what appeared a corpse but needs another lifetime of expenses and effort for an uncertain result.
5. MVPI has just begun its trek.
Best I can do, friend.
Terry
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