The United States Supreme Court ruled last week in
WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp. that—in
certain circumstances—a patent owner can recover "lost
foreign profits" under 35 U.S.C. § 284. In doing so, the
Court reversed the Federal Circuit's decision that relied on
the presumption against extraterritoriality to preclude such an
award of damages.
The plaintiff (and petitioner) in the case, patent owner
WesternGeco, owns patents relating to a system for surveying the
ocean floor. WesternGeco practices its patents by performing
surveys for oil and gas companies and does not sell or license its
technology to others. Accused infringer ION sold a competing
system, the components of which it manufactured in the United
States and then shipped to customers abroad. Those customers then
combined the components to create a system "indistinguishable
from WesternGeco's and used the system to compete with
WesternGeco." The trial court found ION liable for
