Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center made incredible tech that corporate Xerox didn't see any commercial use for. Corporate Xerox did however see a chance to make a quick buck, by being able to invest in pre-IPO Apple in exchange for letting Apple see what the kooky guys and gals in Palo Alto were brewing. Apple got invited to PARC at least twice. Steve Jobs was very impressed by the idea of the Graphical User Interface. The Apple folks didn't copy any code from Xerox, but built their own system based on what they saw and what needed improving. Xerox is alleged to have bought $1 million in pre-IPO Apple shares. If true, corporate Xerox didn't blow it once, but twice. Those shares would now be worth more than the whole of Xerox, if they had held on to them.
PS: I very much enjoyed the other explanations of what my point might be. (and yes, I'm a bit of a hoarder. Evernote is my enabler.)