Yes, parallel fakes could explain existing results. Though I did not state this, that is what I still believe. Also Rossi has also been described as ‘impressive’ and ‘charming’ which are often typical traits of confidence men. So yes, I’m still nervous about fraud.
Allan Fletcher did make those initial comments that “all demos taken as a collective rule out all possible fakes”. Of course, this is not good enough. Fletcher may have upgraded his scepticism lately but then he is actively responding to new information as it comes in as any good scientist should.
I would still like to know more about how the decision was made to finally grant the patent. I would think the Italian patent office would be on high alert considering the notoriety of this case and would set the bar high. It would also be nice to have an engineer/patent attorney comment on the scope of the patent.
What is your position on Cold Fusion in general, i.e., reports the US Navy has replicated Pons and Fleischmann, DARPA reversing their position on cold fusion, esteemed researcher and one time Cold Fusion detractor Dr. Robert Duncan reversing his position, all the new peer-reveiwed research promoted by Jed Rothwell and so on?
Perhaps it is precisely this expectation of an immanent breakthrough that Rossi is exploiting. If there is fraud I tend to think it would be happening on the Defkalion side of things. Supposedly they have raised 200 million Euros from somebody. I hope those investors got better demos than the rest of us.
Interesting that the International Patent page states the IPC are "C01B 3/00 (2006.01), C01B 6/02 (2006.01)," but the Italian patent listing gives a "Class Code" (which I assume is the IPC determination) of H01M.
The definition of H01M? Check it out... here (PDF).
PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY (electrochemical processes or apparatus in general C 25; semiconductor or other solid state devices for converting light or heat into electrical energy H 01 L, e.g. 31/00, 35/00, 37/00)What is your position on Cold Fusion in general [...]
I think that it's possible that there are mechanisms for "cold" fusion that might be viable someday, but I'm not an expert in the field. I do, however, know enough about some of the instrumentation I've seen in videos and other listings, and I wonder if they're using the correct instrumentation. I also wonder why they don't follow conventional means of bringing discoveries forward (and of testing).