U.S. Supreme Court Told Patent Damages Can Include Foreign Sales

ION Geophysical Corp. should pay damages for selling its patent-infringing products abroad, because the components were shipped from the U.S., WesternGeco LLC argued Feb. 23 in its opening brief to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Patent owners would likely benefit if the Supreme Court sides with WesternGeco. Such a ruling would give them a way to include an infringer’s foreign sales when calculating a damages award.

A jury found that ION’s DigiFin product, a system for scanning the ocean floor for oil and gas deposits, infringed WesternGeco’s patents, and awarded $93.4 million in damages. But the U.S. Court of Appeals ...