ION Geophysical and WesternGeco have settled a decade-long patent litigation regarding lateral streamer positioning.
ION Geophysical and WesternGeco have settled a decade-long patent litigation regarding lateral streamer positioning.
WesternGeco will permanently dismiss the pending lawsuit, grant ION a licence to the patents and lift the injunction preventing ION from manufacturing DigiFIN in the United States. In exchange, ION has agreed to pay a settlement value to WesternGeco out of future revenues from the company’s multi-client data library, comprising 1) a small percentage of 2D multi-client late sales for a 10-year period and 2) a majority of ION’s revenue share to WesternGeco on the parties’ existing joint multi-client reimaging product offshore Mexico.
The parties have also agreed to expand their existing multi-client collaboration to new projects.
‘I am thrilled to put this lawsuit behind us,’ said Chris Usher, ION’s president and chief executive officer. ‘The composition of our companies’ portfolios and the competitive landscape have changed dramatically over the timeline of this case. Both parties recognized that collaboration and risk-sharing make more sense going forward, rather than embarking on the new damages case. The parties have been collaborating since 2016 on multi-client programmes and have identified additional areas to work together.’
