The Eastern District Court of Texas sided with Downing Wellhead Equipment Tuesday in dismissing competitor Intelligent Wellhead Systems’ lawsuit claiming patent infringement of wellhead control equipment.
“This ruling is a tremendous validation for Downing Wellhead,” Haynes Boone IP Litigation partner Tiffany Cooke said in a news release. “It demonstrates the importance of challenging weak patents that attempt to monopolize basic operational concepts rather than protect genuine technological innovation.”
Oklahoma City-based Downing Wellhead Equipment develops pressure-control technologies for hydraulic fracturing operations.
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker granted Downing’s motion to dismiss, finding IWS’s two patents failed to claim patentable subject matter.
Judge Barker determined the claims merely automate manual processes using generic computers.
“The technology automates actions that could be performed by two workers on walkie-talkies, where one worker keeps a well control mechanism locked until receiving a ‘confirmatory’ all-clear signal from the other worker,” Barker wrote. “Simply limiting the field of use of the abstract idea to a particular existing technological environment does not render the claims any less abstract.”
Third-year associate Dylan Freeman argued for the motion to dismiss at the July 11 hearing.
“I was grateful to be trusted with arguing an important piece of our case as a third-year associate,” Freeman told The Texas Lawbook. “Our team has been excellent in allowing young associates opportunities to gain invaluable experience. I’m obviously thrilled it ended up being a great win for both the client and the firm.”
The two companies have pending litigation in Colorado federal court, where Downing is asserting its own patent claims against IWS.
This is just one of the wins the firm has seen for Downing. In June, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board upheld all 38 claims of a hydraulic fracturing patent.
Haynes Boone partners Lee Johnson, Russ Emerson, Alan Herda, Scott Jarratt and counsel Jason Whitney and associates Andrew Drott and Dirk Bernhardt also represented Downing.
Attorneys representing IWS are Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough partners Lisa Margonis and Tammy Terry and Scheef & Stone partner Michael Smith.
The case is Intelligent Wellhead Systems Inc. v. Downing Wellhead Equipment LLC, 6:24-cv-263.