Polarcus and PGS set for court stoush over patent claim

Polarcus has accepted service of court proceedings filed by PGS Australia Pty Ltd relating to the acquisition of seismic data on three surveys in Australia and the processing of that data.

Polarcus said proceedings had followed three years of intermittent correspondence from PGS “in response to which Polarcus, supported by leading patent counsel, provided overwhelming evidence that Polarcus’ activity did not intersect PGS’ patent.

“The claim will be vigorously contested and has no impact on any project outside Australia,” Polarcus added.

PGS’ principal claim under its patent was previously held to be unpatentable by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Polarcus said.

Polarcus said it intended to challenge the validity of all relevant aspects of PGS’ Australian patent and it intends to challenge the validity of all relevant aspects of PGS’ Australian patent.

Five years ago WesternGeco filed a lawsuit against Polarcus for patent infringement in Texas, in which it was alleged that method and apparatus patents regarding control systems for marine seismic streamer steering devices had been infringed by the latter.

Polarcus later settled by paying a worldwide license fee of US$40 million.