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All patent rights to potentially the most lucrative technique so far
for coating a surface with a thin film of diamond are up for sale, and
could go for virtually nothing. The technique, invented in Britain and
being developed at the University of Bristol, promises a multibillion-pound
market in more robust equipment and devices, ranging from razor blades to
semiconductors. Now an American patent lawyer based in New York is looking
for buyers.

Ernest Nagy, the inventor who was once keen to prevent commercial monopoly
ownership of the technology at any cost, decided late last year to dispose
of his patent rights. He says several organisations in the US have already
expressed an interest. Last week, Nagy’s main financial backer, a Cornish
businessman, appealed to the Department of Trade and Industry in particular,
and British industry in general, to come up with funds to support the technique’s
cash-starved research programme.

Nagy admits that the lack of financial support for his invention is
disappointing, especially at a time when the project’s researchers are ‘skipping
and jumping for joy’. But he insists that this is not why he is selling
the patent. He says his decision follows his discovery that, unknown to
him, Bristol University has been trying to negotiate an agreement for exploiting
the technique. Throughout last year, he says, university officials were
meeting representatives of Anglo American, the South African based conglomerate
that has close ties with De Beers, the diamond company. According to Nagy,
Anglo American tried unsuccessfully to buy out his interests the year before
(‘Anyone for cheap diamond film?’, New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ, 22 May 1993).

‘The main thrust of the meetings was to discover whether anyone other
than me has contractual rights to the technique,’ he says. ‘They were looking
for the cheapest route to the thing, some chink in the armour . . . with
Anglo American hoping that the university could claim some property rights.’
Nagy claims he retains all rights in the technique.

Bristol University says Nagy has misinterpreted its discussions with
Anglo American. His views ‘are coloured by his difficult relationship with
Anglo’, says Don Carlton, the university’s information officer, who took
part in the talks. ‘We have been discussing a range of topics . . . as
we do with many international companies,’ he says.

However, Carlton dismisses the idea that Nagy owns all the rights to
the technology. ‘We have rights in the development that has taken place
at the university . . . and we’ve been making good progress.’ He refuses
to elaborate further. ‘We do not talk about patents or potential patents
with anyone.’

The attraction of Nagy’s process is its simplicity and universal application
compared with other techniques. Nagy found that a spinning polishing mop
sprinkled with diamond powder can coat any surface with a diamond film,
under certain conditions. The thrust of his research has been to define
the optimum conditions for obtaining a continuous film.

Nagy learnt of the discussions between the university and Anglo American
in mid-December, when he was invited to a pre-Christmas meal with two officials
from South Africa. He describes one as Anglo American’s ‘top commercial
negotiator’, and the other as a director of CSIR, the South African research
institute that assessed Nagy’s early samples of diamond film and has been
routinely making its own samples ever since under licence. Nagy immediately
told his patent lawyer in New York, Fred Keire of Curtis, Morris & Safford,
to look for a buyer. ‘This is not a whinge or a fit of pique,’ says Nagy.

Keire is reluctant to say how much the patent might sell for, but says
there is already some interest in the invention. Nagy says he would like
at least £500 000, which would be enough to clear his debts. But
he may settle ‘for a nominal amount, and then go into something else’.

The prospect of the rights to the technology leaving Britain has angered
Nagy’s main financial backer. Bernard Fleming, chairman of Flann Microwave
Instruments, a Cornish manufacturer based in Bodmin, has already invested
£120 000 in Nagy’s work. In return, Fleming has a licence to develop
the technique in his business field. He says he cannot afford to invest
any more money and is campaigning for support from the DTI.

Smaller investments have come from two large American corporations,
Gillette and Xerox, and from groupings of companies that are based in Britain
and abroad.