Federal Circuit Reverses PTAB Ruling on PGS Geophysical Patent Claim

June 2018

The Federal Circuit reversed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision on an important patent claim relating to a method invented by PGS Geophysical.  PGS and its competitor, WesternGeco (a subsidiary of Schlumberger), filed a series of IPR petitions against each other regarding patents in the field of marine seismic surveying.  Williams & Connolly represented PGS in these proceedings and in the related appeals.  On June 18, 2018, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion regarding one of PGS’s patents.  Among other things, the Federal Circuit reversed the PTAB’s finding that one of the patent claims was invalid as anticipated.  This is an important patent claim relating to a commercially significant class of embodiments for the inventive technique.  Williams & Connolly partner Jessamyn Berniker argued the case before the Federal Circuit.  

PGS Geophysical is represented by David Berl, Jessamyn Berniker, David Krinsky, Christopher Suarez, and Matt Rice.

Click here to read the Law360 article.

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