Geoff writes:

In 1982 I was working for Raytheon Data Systems (RDS), a company whose main business was supplying IBM-compatible terminal systems to airlines. One day I was invited to join a meeting that included various VPs and corporate lawyers from IBM and RDS, who were haggling over the licensing terms for an IBM specification. After several hours of fruitless discussion, I said, “Oh, come on. Just give us the spec and we’ll implement it.” All the IBM lawyers promptly got in a huddle. “Are you formally requesting that we turn over the document to you?” they asked. “Well, yes,” I replied, rather surprised. “In that case, we are required by the terms of our consent decree to comply,” they said. And they did. Apparently nobody had thought to simply ask for it.

via 7 Things You May (or May Not) Know About Me » Geoff Arnold.

Alas, not a lot has changed since.

Incidentally the consent decree referred to is this one, as written up by the NYT in 1994.