earn $89 million by taking people outside a building and pointing to some fans on the second floor, would you do it or not? If IHFB or Gluck come up with some preposterous excuse to say they would not, they are trolling, and not engaged in a serious discussion.
I think your persistent accusations of trolling is trolling. Once Rossi went down the JMP ruse path, it made it very difficult for him to switch things up mid-test and say "hey y'all come back here and see what we got 'cookin." The first part of the two-part blunder is that Rossi initiated the JMP ruse, probably after the disappointment with the actual Johnson Matthey. It was a fateful decision. The next part of the two-part blunder is that Darden hired the wrong experts, who understand little to nothing about LENR, and render clumsy reports. What other choice did Darden have at that point other than to believe his experts? At the point of filing the lawsuit, Rossi probably believed that JMP could escape unscathed by claiming trade secret, etc.