Jed wrote:
Robin van Spaandonk wrote: RvS: Not at all, and that isn't what I said. This technology is conservatively worth trillions. JB suggested that it be taken by the government, and Mills be paid what it's worth. I am simply pointing out that no one has ever paid trillions for a technology. When the amount gets that high, the technology is simply stolen, the theft swept under the rug, and obscured by legal niceties. MC: Such can happen, which is why I see the current activity on the website as building a patent base that can be defended, which is what a license laboratory must do. Mills' business model is a license laboratory. Years ago in some email to Mills, I pointed out that the patents woudl expire but by then he should have a good technology lead. Mills replied to the effect that I was perceptive. JR: I disagree. Transistors were ultimately worth trillions, but AT&T was fully paid during the time its patents were in effect. So were other patent holders such as Texas Instruments. The Mills invention may *eventually* be worth trillions in the aggregate, but probably not during the life of the patent, even if it starts with a bang. As things are now working out, it seems likely to me the patents will expire before any technology is developed or sold, and Mills will have nothing. MC: Trillions may be the aggregate worth, of which Mills and investors will see only a fraction. Still, Mills may be richer than Gates, much less than a trillion. Jed is terminally pessimistic about Mills' business prospects, since Mills is not following Jed's favorite buisness model, but neither is anyone in the CF community. One might term the present period as a pregnancy of unknown duration. The child may be stillborn or a wonderkind. We don't know yet. Airplanes are another major technology that was patented. The first patent held up, and so did subsequent patents filed by others. In 1917, to promote wartime production, the government stepped in and forced all patent holders to accept a standard fee, so that any manufacturer could get free access to the technology. I imagine something similar would happen with the Mills device. If it comes to a free-market free-for-all without patents, my guess is that Mills would not stand a chance. He might as well give the stuff away and hope to win a Nobel Prize, because he will not earn a dime any other way. MC: Which is why Mills is working to secure a patent position. He tried first -- and may yet succeed -- in getting fundamental patents that will cover all possible applications. Last year BLP submitted a massive *applicaion* patent application which did not rely at all on the orbitsphere or dubious physics. It described physical structures, selection criteria for catalysts, etc. in every variation in all the papaers Mills has published. There is no reason it should not be granted, along with recipies for paint and patent medicine. It has the disadvantage of limitation, such that if someone can build a device that works without infringing on the claims, he is home free -- after a court fight. MC: To fulfill the dream of Jed and Jones you have to replace the power plants of utilities and vehicles and buildings throughout the world. This will not be done by amateurs, particularly utilities, which are responsible for the life of all their customers. They will not give up tested means for untested. A zillion microturbines might eat them away as PCs ate at IBM's entrails, but those have to be reliable also. Replacement will happen, by well organized and efficient manufacturers. They might come from surprising roots. Texas Instruments, for example, origianlly made its money in oil well prospecting and jumped into semiconductors when they emerged. MC: The task is larger than any single or small group of companies, as was the electrification of the world, still incomplete. BLP will have its place in the sun, but eventually the patents will run out and many entrepreneurs will take over. That's fine. Mike Carrell
