I think it is likely that the intellectual property rights for cold fusion will soon result in a gigantic legal brawl with countless lawsuits. I suppose that powerful interests may line up behind Piantelli to sue Rossi, and vice versa, with everyone suing Defkalion. A lawsuit frenzy should not hold back the development of the technology. Production and sales usually continue even when intellectual property rights are disputed. Still, it would be regrettable.
Someone here suggested that the best solution to this problem would be for governments to throw a large pile of money that everyone involved in the initial development of cold fusion. I think that would probably be a good idea. I hope that Fleischmann and Pons get a large chunk of it. Rossi deserves a lot too. Many people do. There is precedent for this. In 1917, the United States wanted to begin large-scale mass production of aircraft for World War I. The industry was hamstrung by patent fights especially by the original patent which had been bought by Wright-Martin. There was a confused tangle of conflicting claims and different patents. I do not recall exactly how was worked out, but books about aviation say that Congress cut the Gordian knot and establishing a single source for royalty payments owned by the government. It paid everyone who still had a valid patent in aviation, including Wright-Martin. Something like this a world-wide scale, with many different governments contributing, will probably be needed to work through the cold fusion patent mess. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can read the original hearings about this issue. Do a Google search for this document: "Hearings ... on estimates submitted by the secretary of the Navy, 1917" By United States Congress House Committee on Naval Affairs When that document appears, look for "aviation patent" read p. 1177 and 1115. These people were pragmatic. This is a sensible discussion. One of the statements submitted to Congress says that the automobile industry had a similar tangle of patents: "I understand that a similar condition arose among automobile manufacturers, and organization was finally formed among them for the purposes of straightening out patent litigation, and I understand that the scheme has worked out most satisfactorily." - Jed
