H3Tec Challenge

[Carl-NC]

This thread will cover my discussions with H3Tec. In early 2010 I was sent an H3Tec device for testing and inspection. As part of my investigation, I wrote an email to Chuck Christensen at H3Tec with some questions about the device:

Chuck,

I've recently obtained an H3Tec device for performance evaluation and eventual engineering evaluation. For the performance evaluation, I would like to run the H3Tec through some tests that validate it does something useful, like detecting gold. In my initial trials, I get no reaction from the device; it behaves just like a dowsing rod. In fact, unless it is held in my hand, the pointer won't move at all, even when a 10-ounce gold bar is waved right in front of it.

Is the device supposed to work when it is not being held by the user? If the device won't work unless a person is holding it, can you explain how that is not equivalent to dowsing? Can you suggest any specific test methods that will unambiguously demonstrate true objective operation, preferably without the need for it to be held?

The second phase is to disassemble the device and see what's inside. On your web site, you claim it uses "nano-ionic resonance." Yet beyond discussions of H3Tec that term does not appear to exist in science, at least in web searches. What is being resonated? How are ions involved? Can you explain what scientific theory is used in H3Tec devices? Can you provide references in real, scientific literature?

On your web site, you claim that the U.S. Army was trained and has purchased at least two H3Tec units. On forums you claim it has been deployed overseas, specifically "H3's are in the Middle East protecting our troops." Is the H3Tec actively being used by the Army? Can you provide the name and phone number or email of a contact person in the Army who can verify that the H3Tec is being successfully deployed in any capacity?

Since my initial evaluation of the H3Tec device showed no apparent functional ability, I would like to try again with your suggested test methods. If I still can't get the device to perform, would you be willing to demonstrate the H3Tec in a professionally-administered randomized double-blind test?

Regards,
Carl Moreland
Geotech

[Carl-NC]

Chuck's reply to my email was as follows:

Dear Mr. Moreland;

H3 Tec demands that you return the H3 detector, H3 software, and H3 system as defined in the following paragraphs within 30 days of the date of this email to the following address:

H3 Tec Shipping/Receiving
P O BOX 140533
Ogden, UT 84415

You are not the licensee and have obtained this device illegally. Failure to return H3 Tec’s property will force us to seek remedy in a court in the State of Utah where the contract was initiated.

Each H3 system (training, manuals, and other materials manufactured by H3), H3 detector, and its corresponding H3 software is sold through a license agreement between H3 Tec, LLC and the licensed end user or owner of the device and is under a strict contract and Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) signed by H3 Tec, LLC and the licensee. The license and agreement are specific to the user who purchased this license package and was trained on the correct use of the H3 device; neither the license, device, software, system, nor the agreement is transferable. Any breach of this license and NDA is a violation of the H3 user agreement that is put in place at the time of purchase.

In addition, the H3 is protected by patents applied for on behalf of H3 Tec, LLC by Stoel Rives, LLC (our intellectual property and compliance law firm), and granted to H3 Tec by the United States Patent Office. This patent states that H3 has title to this invention and the right to exclude others from reverse engineering, making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the invention. This patent and the workings described are company-propriety and protected by U.S. Patent Law and the courts of the State of Utah.

I encourage you to consider carefully before tampering with, reverse engineering, or testing any H3 device. You are prohibited from disclosing any company-proprietary information to which you may have access. We will not hesitate to invoke legal action if you proceed.

Sincerely,

Charles L. Christensen
CEO and Chairman of the Board

You can't hide from H3.
"Anything that cannot be explained by the current state of the art is a discovery."

H3 Tec, LLC
P O Box 150433
Ogden, UT 84415

P: 602.464.3832
F: 801.475.4984
C: 801.814.6577

e: info@h3tec.com
w: www.h3tec.com

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

This email message may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. Do not read this email if you are not the intended recipient. This email transmission and any documents, files, or previous email messages attached to it may contain confidential information that is legally privileged and may constitute inside or non-public information under international, federal, or state securities laws. Unauthorized forwarding, printing, copying, distribution, or use of such information is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you are not the addressee, please promptly destroy this email and its attachments without reading or saving in any manner, and notify the sender of the delivery error by email; or you may call H3 Tec's corporate offices in Ogden, Utah, U.S.A at (+1) (602)464-3832.

[Carl-NC]

I wrote Chuck back to point out serious deficits in his demands, and to offer my LRL challenge:

Chuck,

I am unaware of any contract or license; perhaps you can forward copies to me. However, if misrepresentation was involved then any contract or license will be null and void. Based on what I see so far, a whole lot of misrepresentation is involved. In any case, I am not bound by any contract with H3Tec.

Furthermore, a patent provides absolutely no protection to inspection, reverse-engineering, or public scrutiny of the device. This is well-established law. Based on other misinformed comments you've made regarding patents, you may want to consider a new patent attorney.

It appears that you are neither inclined to answer my questions, nor to provide a procedure for objectively testing the H3Tec. Therefore, I offer you my $25,000 LRL prize if you, as the operator, can success-
fully demonstrate the H3Tec in a professionally-administered randomized double-blind test. I can arrange such a test with Sandia National Labs, which has extensive experience in testing these kinds of devices.

Rather than send this device to you, I will instead forward it to James Randi, who would like to inspect it and provide his own public report on what he finds. Finally, assume that any correspondence between us is not confidential and may show up in my public report on the H3Tec.

Carl Moreland
Geotech

[Carl-NC]

H3Tec claims that their device was tested and "certified" by Chemir Analytical Services, which is a legitimate testing lab. H3Tec includes some footage of their visit to Chemir in one of their videos. So I decided to contact Chemir to ask about the test and the results:

Mr Charles Christensen of H3Tec is advertising a device as being tested and "certified" by Chemir. I would like to contact the person(s) involved in the testing of the H3Tec device to ask a few questions.

Chemir replied:

Dear Mr. Moreland,

Good morning. I am the Quality Assurance/Quality Control Manager at Chemir, and I'm writing to tell you we received your recent inquiry. Perhaps I can help you, but please note that we have confidentiality agreements with each of our clients. There may not be much information I can provide you without direct consent from Mr. Christensen, and so I suggest you ask him to join the conversation.

You can reach me via e-mail or at the information below.

To which I responded:

Thanks for the reply. Basically, all I want to find out is whether the "H3Tec" device was tested by Chemir, and whether those tests were performed using a randomized double-blind protocol.

I have recently obtained an H3Tec device and have found it to be nothing but a dowsing rod. In randomized double-blind tests, dowsing never works, yet Mr. Christensen is touting the Chemir test results as proof that his device works. He even goes so far as to say, "Chemir Labs certified H3's claims."

Beyond the question of test protocol, what were the claims that Chemir certified?

Chemir again:

Carl,

I will attempt to contact Mr. Christensen about this matter and reply to you by next week whether or not I receive a reply from him. I appreciate your patience while I do my best to comply with our confidentiality agreements.

Later that day:

Dear Mr. Moreland,

I have reached Mr. Christensen, and he has expressed his intent not to join this conversation. Thus, in compliance with our client confidentiality practices, no personnel at Chemir will be available to answer detailed questions regarding this product testing.

I appreciate your effort to notify us of a potential situation where a person or company is falsely representing our business or relationship.

It's very curious that Christensen would want to keep the test methods and results a secret, unless he is misrepresenting what actually happened. Chemir's last statement seems to suggest this very scenario.

At this point, I asked Chemir how much they would charge if I personally brought the H3Tec device in for them to perform a double-blind test. They responded:

I'm sorry, we cannot help with a product evaluation like this one.

A follow-up phone call clarified that Chemir does not perform double-blind product testing. They recommended another company.

[Carl-NC]

During all this, I sent James Randi a run-down on my adventures with H3Tec. He sent them the following email:

August 7th, 2010.

Kathy & Charlie: I assure you that the James Randi Educational Foundation will not be bound by any such "following paragraphs" if and when we obtain one of these devices for testing, which we intend to do, so please send us a serious, pompous, warning of dire legal consequences, so we may publish it for our readers. However, I assure you, no "reverse engineering" is being contemplated, sought, or even considered; that would be a waste of our time and labor, since there's no engineering to be found.

A simple test of your device could easily be conducted, should you be willing, and if the device works, that would result in the million-dollar prize of this Foundation being awarded to you or whoever you might designate. But though we are willing, able, and well prepared to witness such a test, you will -- predictably -- refuse to participate. Any such test would be conducted by you, personally, or any other person you might choose to designate, of course, under a simple protocol designed by you.

I confidently assert that this offer will be (a) refused, (b) ignored, and/or (c) mocked in ignorance of reality.

The "H3 Tec" device does not, cannot, and will never, work as advertised, but it will continue to sell because there exists a certain percentage of the public that is naïve enough to purchase it. And, contrary to the cute advertising motto you use, I am very capable of "hiding" from an H3. Anyone is…

PROVE ME WRONG.

(silence, except for frantic scurrying noises as lawyers are alerted to this nuisance, in preparation for another dire warning to be issued in legalese.)

James Randi

I assume he got no response.

[Carl-NC]

Uh-oh, time for another threatening email from Chuck. This time he copies Kory D. Christensen, who is apparently his patent attorney. Or, as I like to call him, his "attorney-of-the-same-name." I wonder if this guy is giving Chuck such phenomenally bad information, or if Chuck is making it up on his own.

Mr. Carl Moreland,

You have been informed in writing and made very aware of H3 Tec’s license and use restrictions. As I have explained to you before, Non-disclosure agreement, contract, and license is maintained for each and every H3 system sold. The fact that you say you have our property and are going to share our private information with everyone on the Web is enough for us to believe you are serious. Possession of H3 Tec’s property without a license constitutes theft. You have admitted that you are in possession of stolen property; therefore, you are required by law to return it. With that, we are again demanding that the H3 you have in your possession be returned to us, and that you inform us of the name of the party who transferred it to you. You can do this now, or you will be deposed through our attorneys in the very near future. Such deposition will include the company for which you are working and therefore represent.

The only misrepresentation in this situation is yours, and you have blasted it to anyone within sight and ear shot. It is on your phone, emails, website, and blog site. In fact, you have contacted our independent testing laboratories, illegally misrepresented yourself as our authorized vendor, and attempted to obtain company-confidential and proprietary information in the form of our lab tests. All your activities are illegal and we will seek remedy.

We have collected a lot of evidence in this matter, and will forward it to our attorneys for processing. Thinking you are smarter than our attorneys is less than amusing. You are an engineer, and have been an engineer for your entire career; you are not a lawyer. H3 Tec, LLC and H3 Tec, LLC’s property is protected--well protected. Our IP is very valuable, and we have invested deeply in the legal title and protections of our company. We use world-class business practice that were set up by our business attorney. I’m sure your employer, Mr. White, does the same thing with his business and property.

H3 Tec, by using the proper procedures to obtain patents on this IP and a host of other IPs, retains title and protections. H3’s IP, contracts, and licenses will be strictly enforced. This means that, as I have told you before, transfer of and/or possession of a transferred H3 detector system is strictly forbidden by law, and I am asking for the second time that you return our property immediately.

We also demand that you remove any mention of H3 Tec, H3 Tec products, Chuck Christensen, and Kathy Christensen from any media and/or domain over which you have control or influence and through which reference has been made to H3 Tec or the Christensen’s

As indicated by the confidentiality notice provided in this and all of our company emails, this email and its contents are strictly confidential. The contents of this email are company-propriety information and will be treated as such. This email may not be reproduced in or out of context using any media, electronic or otherwise, and cannot be verbally transferred to any other party in whole or out of context to anyone other than H3 Tec, LLC .

Sincerely,

Charles L. Christensen


H3 Tec LLC
Davis Applied Technology College
450 South Simmons Way, Suite 650
Kaysville, UT 84037

P: (801) 593-2272
F: (801) 593-2110
W: www.h3tec.com
E: info@H3tec.com


CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This email message may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. Do not read this email if you are not the intended recipient.
This email transmission and any documents, files, or previous email messages attached to it may contain confidential information that is legally privileged and may constitute inside or non-public information under international, federal, or state securities laws. Unauthorized forwarding, printing, copying, distribution, or use of such information is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you are not the addressee, please promptly destroy this email and its attachments without reading or saving in any manner, and notify the sender of the delivery error by email; or you may call H3 Tec's corporate offices in Kaysville, Utah, U.S.A at (+1) (801) 593.2271.

By the way, I authorized me to distribute this email.