Brown Rudnick to Defend Stabil Drill in Appeal of Patent Infringement Win

Brown Rudnick is defending Stabil Drill Specialties, a leading provider of oilfield equipment, against an appeal by Extreme Technologies, a drilling technology company seeking to overturn the dismissal of its patent infringement case.

On Sept. 23, 2024, following a five-year legal battle, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted Stabil's motion for summary judgment of non-infringement.

Extreme sued Stabil in 2019 for allegedly infringing three patents that cover the design of a reaming tool used in oil and gas operations to reduce bends or "dog legs" in the wellbore's path. Stabil offers the Smoothbore Eccentric Reamer for sale, rent or lease to third parties in competition with Extreme's Drill-N-Ream.

After discovery, Stabil filed a motion for summary judgment of non-infringement, contending that the Smoothbore reamer did not meet one of the limitations of the asserted claims: "the plurality of blades defining a curved cutting area extending approximately 50% of the circumference of each reamer." The limitation was added to the claims to overcome prior art.

Stabil showed, based on its expert's testimony, that the curved cutting area on each size of the Smoothbore reamer is not more than 35.4%. "The question then becomes whether the part of the Smoothbore that cuts earth extends 'approximately 50% of the circumference of the reamer,'" U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Bray wrote in a memorandum and recommendation on Aug. 13. "The undisputed evidence is that it does not."

Judge Bray held as a matter of law that Stabil's Smoothbore reamer did not infringe any of the asserted claims because it did not have a curved cutting structure of "approximately 50%" of the circumference of each reamer. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton dismissed the case on Sept. 23. Extreme appealed the ruling to the Federal Circuit on Oct. 22.

Partner Jayme Partridge is the lead trial lawyer and leads the Brown Rudnick team, which also includes partners Erick Robinson and Jayne Piana, and associate John Spisak.