@Ndungu,
Apple actually licensed the mouse from Xerox PARC. And their implementation of the device worked. As he described it, Steve wanted a device that could work on a table, glass, and finally, on his lap.
There is nothing wrong with licensing existing technology and making it better. That's the difference between Apple and Samsung.
Microsoft also did licence the original Mosaic code for what was to become Internet Explorer. They wanted to get IE quickly to the market to beat Netscape. And the Mosiac had actually been developed by Marc Andreeseen while at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the university held on to it. So Netscape had to develop a new browser from scratch. Only to watch as Microsoft come late to the game and license their original creation.