Bill,
I have no confidence that there have been any OU companies whatsoever.
Paul Brown is a long and complex story. Since he cannot any longer defend himself, I see no point in discussing it.
The SMOT, when all was said and done, proved an unworkable device. However, like all of life, it provided a learning experience for many.
The Brady work is worth watching. Whatever happens is likely to prove instructive.
Building a business is not usually a task pursued wisely by an inventor. The skill set is different.
The patent system provides a way of teaching new technology. Dennis Cravens recently obtained a patent on cold fusion. Of course he never used the term.
The system, like all human creations, is highly imperfect, as are we.
IMHO the time is ripe for new energy companies. I expect there to be several. A few will survive and grow. The Venture Capital community is seeking them. As a former consultant on venture capital for the Department of Commerce, I hope MPI can continue not to need them. But, the fact they are open to new energy, at this moment in history, suggests you are much too pessimistic.
My experience suggests we will be one of the survivors. Perhaps not. Time will tell.
Mark
From: William Beaty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: OU companies: get it right first, no second chance? Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 10:15:48 -0700 (PDT)
On Mon, 5 Jul 2004, Mark Goldes wrote:
> I am aware of the problems you list. We have taken a hard look at the
> patent approach and concluded it is a much better bet than not patenting.
It could work, but then, why have no other companies succeeded, even when they did receive patents?
Hmmm. Here's another "problem." It's been part of my assumptions, but it is not currently in my list of rules.
"OU COMPANIES ONLY GET ONE CHANCE AT SUCCESS, BETTER DO IT RIGHT."
If the reason for your company's failure is the same as with Greg Watson's SMOT and Paul Brown's radioactive coils, then you cannot first assume that the secrecy/patenting route will work OK, but then LATER change your plans if no patent can be had. Instead the wrong initial move ends the game.
If I recall, both those companies were stopped by death threats and violence. In neither case could they regroup and start over after their first attempt failed. And in Greg's case, on Vortex he heard this whole rant from me and others, but he didn't believe it. He couldn't say "hey, you guys were right, now I'll try a different approach." He got the anti-secrecy right, but didn't count on hidden investor greed and death threats against his family. To succeed, he had to stop pretending that the OU arena is normal business, then assume that what we're saying is true, and then set up his countermoves in advance.
If instead of being positive and confident, you instead are "negative" and paranoid, then you'll assume that your company will fail. And then either you'll try something different than the other failed companies right off the bat... or you'll set up some legal mechanism which will operate if any funny business occurs. "No second chances" is not a hard and fast rule, it's just a statistically probable outcome as demonstrated by OU-machine history.
(((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) ))))))))))))))))))) William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://amasci.com EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair Seattle, WA 206-789-0775 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
