Experience

Oil and Gas

About

Oil and Gas is part of our work in Chemicals, Industrials, and Materials, and Energy.

Protecting advances in an efficiency-driven industry

While geopolitics continue to weigh, the oil and gas industry is changing as operational and technological efficiencies come to the forefront. Concerns about reducing costs, increasing safety, and protecting the environment are spurring advances in both upstream and downstream sectors of the industry, from exploration to field and pipeline development to refining. As companies develop new technologies and innovative approaches to address the challenges, it is critical that they have a sophisticated plan for safeguarding their valuable intellectual property assets. Finnegan offers a comprehensive approach to protecting their IP, whether obtaining patents and trademarks for new technologies, licensing within the industry, asserting IP rights to protect innovators from infringers, or defending against infringement suits.

Understanding the law, science, and technology

Many oil and gas innovations combine multiple technologies and scientific disciplines. Finnegan’s attorneys have technical experience in a broad array of relevant fields, including chemistry and chemical engineering, electrical and computer technologies, materials science, biotechnology, industrial manufacturing, and mechanical engineering. Our talent pool includes former in-house counsel, patent examiners, researchers, engineers, professionals with advanced degrees—including 65+ Ph.D.s–positioning us to understand both the science at the foundation of our clients’ IP assets and the relevant legal issues. We help by:

Advising on potential litigation strategies and deploying experienced trial and appellate teams
Developing and executing prosecution strategies to ensure strong patents and a robust IP portfolio
Analyzing competitors’ IP to avoid infringement and identify weaknesses in their portfolios
Increasing portfolio value by identifying potentially high-value assets that can be improved using strategic prosecution techniques
Preparing and negotiating licenses and other transactions to commercialize IP rights
Counseling on research and development options that minimize patent obstacles
Providing due diligence for merger and acquisition targets
Providing trademark prosecution and counseling service
Counseling on business-related matters, including antitrust and competition issues
Challenging and defending post-grant review proceedings before the PTAB, including inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR)
Providing trademark, copyright, and advertising services

Everyone in this industry

Experience

Secured a decisive victory for client US Synthetic Corp. (USS) at the ITC. After a full hearing, the ALJ found that respondents infringed multiple claims of USS’s patent and that the claims were valid and supported by a domestic industry, but an initial Commission ruling under § 101 temporarily prevented a finding of violation of Section 337. The Federal Circuit reversed the § 101 ruling, and on remand the ITC found a violation and issued a limited exclusion order barring infringing polycrystalline diamond products from entry into the United States, securing final relief for USS.

337-TA-1236, ITC, Judge Elliot

Secured a significant victory for client US Synthetic Corporation (USS) with a precedential decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) overturning an unfavorable 35 U.S.C. § 101 eligibility ruling from the International Trade Commission (ITC).

23-1217, Fed. Cir., Judges Chen, Dyk, Stoll

Represented Total Rebuild in post-trial motions brought by PHC Fluid Power, seeking, inter alia, over $1,000,000 against Total Rebuild. The District Court denied PHC’s post-trial motions in their entirety.

6:15-cv-01855, W.D. La., Judge Doughty

Successfully represented petitioner Equistar in an inter partes review (IPR), resulting in a ruling of unpatentability for all claims of a patent directed to an apparatus and process of manufacturing polyethylene in a high-pressure tubular reactor.

IPR2017-01534, PTAB, Judges Abraham, Roesel, Tornquist

Successfully represented PQ against Johnson Matthey in an interference related to chabazite type zeolites used for selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxides.

106,065, BPAI, Judges Schafer, Lane, Katz

Represented Catacel in a patent infringement suit involving catalytic microreactors used in the petrochemical industry.

5:10-cv-00747, N.D. Ohio, Judge Adams