Offshore staff
TRONDHEIM, Norway -- The Court of Appeal in London has ruled in favor of Norwegian company Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) in a patent dispute with Schlumberger.
According to EMGS, Schlumberger instigated the dispute in an attempt to invalidate two of EMGS' basic marine controlled source electromagnetic method patents.
This overturns a ruling by the London High Court in January 2009, and therefore establishes the two method patents as valid in the UK.
The Court of Appeal has refused Schlumberger permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, EMGS adds.
CEO Roar Bekker said: "We welcome the decision by the Court of Appeal, which confirms that EMGS was the inventor of the marine EM method to detect hydrocarbon reservoirs beneath the seabed.
"The commercial value of our patents is demonstrated through the fact that most of our contracts are won through direct award. Going forward, we expect that today's ruling will reinforce this trend and may also result in multi-client exclusivity in certain countries."
The two method patents upheld in the ruling concern electromagnetic surveying and according to EMGS are a pre-requisite to perform 3D EM acquisition in jurisdictions where EMGS holds the patents. These patents have been granted in 24 jurisdictions.
07/28/2010
