Michael Guillen reported for ABC News that the U.S. Government had issued a patent to Patterson on his system for electrolysis. And then Bart Simon quoted Guillen on that point. Furthermore, the government knew it was issuing a "cold fusion" patent! The patent includes a reference to the work of Pons and Fleischmann and it claims "excess heat". The patent is itself a milestone in human history. Failing to include mention of the patent in this article would be just silly.