Customs Service Probing Southland Laser Maker

Exports of lasers and electronic components by a unit of Patlex Corp. in Chatsworth are being investigated by the U.S. Customs Service, which seized files of documents from the company last month, Patlex Chairman Richard I. Samuel confirmed Thursday.

However, Samuel said Patlex and its laser subsidiary, Apollo Laser, do not know the reason for the investigation and that the Customs Service “wouldn’t tell us.” The probe was disclosed last week in a trade magazine, Metalworking News.

“We’re as curious as everyone else,” Samuel said in a telephone interview, adding that “we don’t believe we did anything wrong.” He also said Customs agents had not contacted the company since taking the documents March 4.

John Miller, a Customs spokesman in Los Angeles, said the agency is “not in a position to comment at this time because there is an investigation going.”

Samuel said the seized documents, of which Patlex has copies, were related to Apollo’s export of manufactured lasers to such countries as Britain, China and the Soviet Union. The files also covered Apollo’s export of electronic components to two Patlex subsidiaries in Israel: Oram Electric Industries, a maker of transformers, and Reshef Defense Technologies, a producer of fuses and other electronic devices for military use.

Apollo makes lasers mostly for scientific research.

The search warrant used by the Customs Service to search Patlex’s offices was based on an affidavit by an unidentified government agent, but the affidavit has since been sealed, preventing Patlex from determining the cause of the investigation, Samuel said.

“Our lawyers have come in and looked over every document that the government took for the purpose of determining whether we can conclude we did something wrong that we didn’t know about,” Samuel said.

Patlex, with 1987 revenue of $15.8 million, is best known for having helped laser pioneer Gordon Gould secure three major patents covering laser technology. In exchange for helping Gould, Patlex receives 64% of the licensing royalties stemming from those patents.

Last year, royalties accounted for $11.3 million, or 72%, of Patlex’s total revenue, while Apollo and the rest of its manufacturing lines accounted for the balance.