ION Asked To Pay WesternGeco $105 Mln In Patent Infringement Case

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8/17/2012 3:16 AM ET

ION Geophysical Corp.(IO: Quote) said a district court jury asked it to pay $105.9 million to WesternGeco, a geophysical services provider, in damages for infringing patents related to control systems for marine seismic streamer steering devices.

A federal court for the Southern District of Texas found that ION Geophysical willfully infringed WesternGeco's patents, the company said in a statement. It added, "ION will be taking immediate steps to pursue all available legal options to overturn the verdict, including post-verdict motions and appeals." The allegation was that ION' DigiFin lateral-streamer control system infringed many methods and apparatus contained in four WesternGeco U.S. Patents.

The total amount of dames comprises $12.5 million for reasonable royalty and $93.4 million in lost profits.

Brian Hanson, ION's chief executive stated, "We do not expect the ultimate outcome of this lawsuit to impact our ability to conduct business. In addition, we anticipate that this verdict will have minimal impact on our revenues in the second half of 2012, as DigiFIN sales account for approximately 3% of our projected revenues for full year 2012."

Wednesday, ION Geophysical closed at $7.59 on the NYSE.

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