De Beers tackles Asian firm over use of synthetic diamond patent

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Synthetic diamonds are a major threat to miners of natural diamonds and De Beers has introduced technology to detect laboratory-grown diamonds to protect the value of its mined production.

Man-made diamonds are cheaper to produce and do not come with legacy issues.

De Beers has a subsidiary, Element Six Technologies, to make synthetic diamonds for industrial applications such as lasers and grinding.

"Element Six believes that IIa Technologies in Singapore is exploiting Element Six patents for commercial gain, potentially in both the industrial/technology and jewellery sectors," the diamond miner said.

IIa did not reply to a request for a response by the time of publication.

On its website, IIa says it produces diamonds for use in jewellery, chemical, optical and electrical applications and favours the production of single-crystal diamonds.

IIa says it is a Singaporebased company established in 2005 and an "industry leader in grown diamond technology".

"Based on its patented research, the company grows colourless Type IIa diamonds (the purest type of diamond) through a commercially viable and sustainable process."

De Beers said Element Six had spent hundreds of millions of dollars in five decades to become the world's leading maker of synthetic diamonds.

"Synthetic diamond material can be - and is - produced without infringeing our patents. We believe this is a straightforward case of patent infringement and, as any company would do, Element Six is taking action to defend its position," said Element Six CEO Walter Hühn.

Source: Business Day