It appears from many comments that there is a contingent of observers who feel that Andrea Rossi’s goals to design a self-destructing E-Cat that it is a futile effort to protect his industrial secret and that the preferred approach would be to release the technology and just accept the fact that the secret will be stolen and copied.
But we should realize that although he is dealing with a new and revolutionary technology he is also operating in a traditional business environment in which he deals with investors who would likely not be interested in investing funds unless they can receive some assurance there will be some protection for them. No doubt Rossi has made assurances that he will do all he can to provide that protection — and indeed he has said that he would delay the release of E-Cat technology in the home environment if he was not confident that his trade secets were secure. “It is a matter of contracts”, he has said. Rossi would not be in the position he is now in, were it not for these contracts, and he is taking a cautious and conservative approach as the E-Cat technology is launched.
While many seem to think that it will be impossible to prevent reverse engineering from taking place, Rossi believes otherwise, although he has given no details on how he is going to proceed. The approval of a world wide patent could help his case, but he said that even in that case, trade secrets will still exist. Whether or not he will be successful remains to be seen, but it is clear that Rossi has made it a priority to take very seriously agreements he has entered into, even if it means that the proliferation of the new form of energy production may be slowed in the domestic arena.
