 In fact the Pacific tech's Graphing Calculator project, NuCalc, at Apple Computer was not a skunk works project but a bootleg project.Permitted bootlegging is research time where technical staff are allowed to spend a certain amount of their time working on ‘pet-projects’ in the hope that some day there is some return for the company.Famous examples of companies that follow such an initiative are 3M and Hewlett-Packard.