Andrea Rossi has been very careful to protect the “industrial secret” of the E-Cat, i.e. the details of what happens within the reaction chamber, and especially the ingredients of the catalyst that makes the reaction so powerful. Many people have commented that despite all the precautions that Rossi is making, that once the E-Cat is released there will be people who will break open the reactor to learn what is inside, and thus allow for the pirating of the technology.
Rossi is of course aware of this possibility, and he is making plans to prevent this from happening. Here is an exchange that took place on his web site yesterday on the topic:
Q: I read that there won’t be any implementations in Italy soon. Are you talking about the industrial aspect? What about the private use of the E-Cat? Will it be available in Italy too?
A: I think that the household targeted items will arrive later. We have to resolve the problem to make them self-destructive in case of opening the reactors. Otherwise, with few thousands of dollars anybody has access to the confidential aspects of the technology. In industrial plants this issue is more easy to afford and has been resolved
Then came a follow up:
Q: Is this necessary if you have a patent? Is it possible to achieve this against someone with sophisticated tools and equipment? Won’t your secret necessarily be in the public domain once the technology is widely distributed?
A: 1- I have not yet an international patent granted, I have a National patent granted, the international application is still pending
2- It is difficult to make this self destruction technology, this is why it will take time. We must find a way that is not dangerous for the persons, but that annichilates instantaneously all the sensible information if somebody tries to open the sealed parts
3- I have to defend the People that have invested in this. And I will.
And a further question:
Q: Due the value of the challenge you have to consider that the efforts to crack the design opening the e-cat certainly will include inert atmosphere, or / and extremely low temperature, where most chemical reaction are impossible.
A: We will resolve the problem.
Rossi is obviously trying to stay ahead of those who want to hack into the E-Cat and try to reverse engineer. He seems very aware of the lengths that people will go to steal his secret and appears determined to do all he can to protect it. He displays an admirable sense of honor in doing his utmost to protect the investments of those who have made the research and discovery possible, but it remains to be seen whether he can create a foolproof method of maintaining this industrial secret. The value of this technology will make it extremely attractive to anyone who does not want to pay the going rate for it, and as we know there are people and organizations who will go to almost any lengths to acquire things they want in illegitimate ways.
