Open sourcing is good, but you can do both. Offer a free and simple version to open-source, and sell a more complex powerful version. I see nothing wrong with getting a provisional patent except that it cost a few hundred bucks. Sure, there will be copycats, but a provision patent will also prevent a lot of copycats. Hey, if it stops one copycat, then in the long run that will be worth a lot of money.

There are three good options.

1. Free simple version-- open source.
2. Sell a complex & improved version as a kit. The kit could be partially built. Get a patent or at least provisional patent.
3. Sell a complex & improved fully built and working version. Get a patent or at least provisional patent.

Until you can get the device UL listed, be certain to get a signed agreement from the buyer. This tip was highly recommended to me by a EE. He said that in the court of law in the USA, a signed agreement holds a *lot* of weight.

PL

 

At least until we change this via a grass roots movement to get these technologies out into the light...Patenting all depends on the genre the device is to be introduced in to.

If you invented a better clothes hanger, by all means patent it.

If you invented a free energy device... Study the success rate of all before you who also done so: Zero. Nada, Zilch. Several thousand have tried. None have succeeded in making it to market successfully using the Patent route.

Patents with free energy devices will get you...

< "Secretized" and ordered by Court Order to never talk about it again. According to Thomas Valone PhD and former Patent Office employee, it has happened over 3,000 times in the US alone. One way around this is to send out the full disclosure on the product to another country before filing the Patent Request.... But then they get very angry at you for doing that. These people are not good enemies to have.   

< Targeted by large corporations or cartels who want to buy you out and shelve it (they WILL hear about very soon after the Patent Request is filed). If you say "no", maybe nothing will happen or maybe something will. Most will not be offered much money, because these people already have the technology and it becomes a question of cost to them: Buy-out or legal route (see below).

< Targeted by unscrupulous patent attorneys, corporations, and crank inventors who claim prior devices... And stuck in endless legal action nightmares. Think about this: Do you think that you are the first one in History to have thought of these devices???

< Nothing in the end, because the device will never see it to the market anyway. If you feel lucky, buy some lottery tickets; they are safer for you

On the other hand Open Sourcing the device will get you:

> Free R&D help to improve the technology

> Multiple replications proving the concept

> Free independent testing. That and the above "replications" are priceless in combating skeptics and gaining credibility (YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM IN GETTING TO A DEVICE TO MARKET)

> A larger and wider chance of getting academic or mainstream scientific approval / vetting. When there are multiple independent replications... You can convince a local college Professor to study the device easier... And the working devices are more widely available for study. These scientists and professors constantly worry about being laughed at by their peers... And require a good deal of data to "cover their rears" first before they will agree to risk their careers.

> Free help in identifying and targeting parallel technologies and applications. This is a huge problem when trying to Patent, because with such a revolutionary device it takes several millions in money , and many years, to to tie-up all the parallel uses and it is nearly impossible to do anyway. With many peeps helping in the Open Source route, these parallel devices can also be attributed as a result of your original idea... So the entire subject is "open sourced" harder for others to patent as "their" idea (not that they would be likely to be successful with patents either lol).

> No danger from "secretization". It's too late! The barn door is open and the horse is out all ready

> Less danger of being preyed upon by attorneys who make it their business to harass inventors. WHAT can they do to you, if you are not trying to sell it? NOTHING. Even if there were a hundred patents tying it up tighter than a drum... If you are not trying to profit directly from it, there is nothing they can do.

There are lots of ways to make money other than direct sales. Once the world knows you are the inventor of such a device, you can sell millions of books. Or do lecture tours, naming your own price. You can sell your biography book or movie rights. You can form a Foundation for research, and get a decent salary from it on top of any promotions. And you can sell the rights to your name to be put on parallel devices (your enemies will not be able to tie-up all the parallel applications with patents any better than you could ).
       

One of my biggest concerns, almost a major problem, is *freely* revealing the details without having some one or some wealthy company patenting it. Here's my point, open-sourcing is great, I love it, but a lot of people are unaware that posting their details on a forum or by email is extremely questionable as holding weight in the court of law in terms of prior-art!  I've posted links to companies that *specialize* in publishing prior-art that counts in court of law. Such companies have a magazine (real paper, not digital online stuff) with significant distribution, and they will also print your research/prior-art online. One company used to charge $150.

This is an old issue that I've discussed in length with a lot of experts who specialize it. That's why I always try to post my stuff at a lot of places, and cross my fingers it's good enough.

So, here I am again, today, with another major breakthrough in my research, in my Free Energy design #3, the solid-state design, but now the design is getting to the point, IMO, where a lot of common knowledgeable people could actually build the device and get it self-running with perhaps 1 year of hard work.


jibbguy,
My plan has never been to patent it first. Rather, it is to spend a day getting tens of thousands of people to see the device running while handing out papers that contain the exact detailed instructions to build one. Then on the second day it would be patented. With my name on tens of thousands of papers should hold a lot of weight in court if someone tries to quickly patent it. Also, tens of thousands of people having the instructions, people who saw the machine running right before their eyes, could spread the information to prevent it from being buried.


PL

jibbguy,

Those are good ideas, a lot of ideal thoughts. There's one thing that stands out, which is --> Sorry everyone, but the "free energy" forums will be the ***LAST*** place I will post the "Grand Smoking Gun!"  For any individual (could be a Texan who's trying to disparately protect his long time family owned oil producing land) or company or Middle Eastern oil rich group etc. etc. who wants to prevent Global Free Energy, this website would be the first place to monitor! So why take a chance? It will be the best, but cheapest life insurance you could ever buy. Don't worry, everyone here will know. People in the Los Angeles county will be the first to see it, and get the papers. Then the large common forums, media email, etc will see the posts. Then last place, this forum.

PL

I'll have to admit that I haven't read this entire thread yet - but most of the devices which use electricity are going to emit some type of electromagnetic radiations ( emanations ) even if these devices have a COP > 1, there is potential for them to create radio interference which may devastate local airwaves.

The possibility of this happening is high given the nature of fast switching transistors and the sheer number of devices which purport to use an antenna or coil setup.

This is just a consideration.  This is also why the patent office grounded Joseph Newman's energy machine when they tested it.  They wanted to isolate the circuit.  ( as for Newman ) his device has lately been pumping water or making a really heavy truck go slowly - ..water has a tendency to want to come up out of the ground of it's own accord in some places.  His truck is just unverified at this point.

I can see two groups in the "free energy" community.  1. Researchers who are on to something legit.  2. Those who watch and speculate.  Until one is in group 1, they have no clue what's happening behind the scenes. Suggesting people are imagining whatever based on feelings is nothing more than speculation. There's a third group, but I'll leave them out for now.

PL