nothing

[metalspider]

Paul

[Kevlar]

I hope this board does not become a place to wring out bad blood, which appears to be happening.
But to assist you in answering your own question...

From your own quote :

Mr. Sprain wrote to me:

I have been working on this
project for 4 years. I have spent a little under a million dollars.

...................

It would be easy to assume that most inventors do not have (a little under a million dollars) to invest.   And to my knowledge, Butch can still patent his ideas.

In order for an invention to be patentable, it must be new as defined in the patent law. This novelty requirement states that an invention cannot be patented if certain public disclosures of the invention have been made. The statute which explains when a public disclosure has been made (35 U.S.C. Section 102) is complicated and often requires a detailed analysis of the facts and the law. The most important rule, however, is that an invention will not normally be patentable if:

the invention was known to the public before it was "invented" by the individual seeking patent protection;
the invention was described in a publication more than one year prior to the filing date; or
the invention was used publicly, or offered for sale to the public more than one year prior to the filing date.

Although the United States grants the one year grace period described in the last two rules above, most other countries do not grant such a period. Therefore, it is almost always preferable to file a patent application before any public disclosure of the invention. Most patent attorneys will try diligently to file a patent application prior to any public release or announcement in order to allow international patent filings.

[SNoNo]

Thanks Butch for thinking like me and some of my friends.