It was at this point that a curious bit of legality comes into the events. In February 1948, Thompson's original patent filing had not been granted as the Ministry of Supply was not sure about his intentions on assigning the rights. Blackman was ill with malaria in South Africa, and the issue was put off for a time. It was raised again in May when he returned, resulting in a mid-July meeting. Thompson complained that Harwell was not supporting their efforts, and that as none of this was classified, he wanted to remain open to turning to private funding. In that case, he was hesitant to assign the rights to the Ministry. The Ministry, who was in charge of the nuclear labs including Harwell, quickly arranged for Cockroft to fund Thompson's development program. The program was approved in November, and the patent was assigned to the Ministry by the end of the year.