Daniel Rocha wrote:
Jed, there is a way to reconcile everything. Defkalion designed the Hyperion differently from Rossi's, the core exactly like Rossi's but they don't have the recipe for the catalyzer. So, all they have are units that can still work for a few months with the last loading of the catalyzer. They can still make designs, test tem continuously, even with the government, but for just a limited time.
I think this scenario is out of the question. An EU government will not test or license a preliminary design. They will demand an exact copy of whatever the company plans to sell, with the full performance the customers will experience. It would be insane to test a faulty, incomplete or non-working version. It would be against the rules.
Furthermore, Defkalion has said repeatedly they have ready-for-market technology. Not a half-baked version.
Also, by the way, no government agency and no agency such as Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) will allow a company to sell a secret design with unknown materials in it. I have seen the forms UL sends out to applicants. You have to specify the exact nature of every single component in the machine, including the screws in the faceplate. I am not exaggerating. They say they will do destructive testing to ensure that every component meets the specifications you give and has the exact components you list. For example, if you say a widget inside the machine is made from a certain quality stainless steel, they make sure that is the case. They demand a list of every vendor and every part number you purchase. The blueprints of your product and their test results are available to any insurance company (any underwriter). That's the whole point. They ensure consumer safety by learning all about every item they certify.
As a practical matter, no consumer product in the U.S. can be sold without UL certification. No retailer would touch it. This means that no one can sell any consumer product in the U.S. with hidden or untested components. I expect similar regulations are in place in the EU and Japan. This makes trade secrets difficult to maintain. Even without rivals doing reverse engineering, trade secrets in important products are short-lived. Minor niche products may have them.
If eCats are sold in any first-world nation, the exact composition of the powder and any nuclear signature it produces will be a matter of public record before the first unit is placed in the first customer site. This is how modern commerce works. You would not want to live in a world where corporations are allowed to sell machines, food or anything else with secret components or unlisted, untested chemicals in them.
"Secret sauces" and the like were banned back in the early 20th century. You can have trade secrets in your production lines and in-house methods, but you cannot sell things without telling people what components are in them, and how those components perform. That is, how hot they can get, how likely they are to fail, what failure modes are anticipated (such as how often a tire will blow out), and so on. Even the so-called "secret" behind Coca Cola, which was grandfathered into the pure food and drug act, is no secret at all. Coca Cola is authorized to use denatured cocaine. This is common knowledge.
- Jed
