The Financial Post, in their article “The energy patent gold mine”, reported that there is a surge in oil patents which may signal a coming ‘tsunami’ of oilfield litigation. Schlumberger Ltd., Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc., the world’s largest oil service providers, reportedly secured a total of 1,257 patents in the United States in 2013, more than twice the annual number of ten years earlier. It was also noted that the past three years, Exxon Mobil Corp. doubled its revenue from technology it licenses to others.
In another article by Reuters entitled “Patent lawsuits stir fears of technology slowdown in oil patch”, and published by the Business News Network, it is noted that Canadian patent litigation is on the rise, with Federal Court cases having doubled in 2013 from a year earlier. More impressively, the article states that the number of Canadian oil and gas technology granted patents has increased almost four-fold in the last decade (from 240 in 2003, to 881 granted patents in 2013).
Mr. Gelsing and the patent team at Warren Sinclair LLP have over fifteen years of experience with oilfield patents. We provide our energy sector clients with sophisticated legal advise and services in relation to:
- obtaining patents for their new oil and gas technology
- licensing patent rights
- purchasing or selling patents
- litigating oilfield patents, including at Federal Court
- reviewing patents for infringement concerns
- providing opinions on invalidating patents
- defending against oilfield cease & desist letters
Email us at: sgelsing@gelsing.ca or send us your questions using the contact form on the right. We look forward to hearing from you.