Wright's Well Control Servs., LLC v. Oceaneering Int'l, Inc.

305 F. Supp. 3d 711
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 22, 2018
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 15–1720
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 305 F. Supp. 3d 711 (Wright's Well Control Servs., LLC v. Oceaneering Int'l, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wright's Well Control Servs., LLC v. Oceaneering Int'l, Inc., 305 F. Supp. 3d 711 (E.D. La. 2018).

Opinion

SARAH S. VANCE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

*714Both parties move for summary judgment on plaintiff's claim of infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,413,725 ('725 Patent).1 Plaintiff also moves for reconsideration of the Court's claim construction order.2 For the following reasons, the Court grants defendant's motion for summary judgment. The Court denies plaintiff's motions for summary judgment and reconsideration.

I. BACKGROUND

A. History of the '725 Patent

Plaintiff Wright's Well Control Services, LLC (WWCS) and defendant Oceaneering International, Inc. (Oceaneering) both provide hydrate remediation services for the oil and gas industry. A hydrate is an ice-like solid that forms when water becomes mixed with oil and/or gas at high pressure and low temperature.3 Hydrates can cause a pipeline to become blocked by "hydrate plugs," resulting in a loss of production.4

WWCS alleges that in 2008, Oceaneering tried and failed to remove hydrates from a pipeline for ATP Oil and Gas Corporation.5 ATP then asked WWCS to review Oceaneering's work, prompting WWCS to spend 18 months researching, testing, and developing a new system for preventing and removing hydrates in deepwater environments.6 According to WWCS, its remediation system successfully cleared hydrates from ATP's pipeline by overcoming many of the design challenges that plagued earlier systems.7

WWCS's hydrate remediation system utilizes a pump to reduce the pressure in the pipeline. By reducing this pressure, WWCS's system can cause solid hydrate plugs to dissociate, i.e. , melt, into liquid and gas.8 But if too much gas enters the system, the gas could reduce the pumping ability of the pump or even cause the pump to implode.9 The separator described in the '725 Patent solves this problem by separating gas from liquid and discharging the gas to the surface. See '725 Patent at 4:47-57.

David Wright, who founded WWCS, and Jeffrey Dufrene filed Provisional Application No. 61/290,168 for their hydrate remediation system in December 2009, shortly after signing a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) with Oceaneering.10 This application specifically included the subsea separator.11 Wright and Dufrene filed non-provisional Patent Application No. 12/978,486 for the separator on December 24, 2010.12 They later assigned their interests in the patents to WWCS.13 The '725 Patent for the separator issued on April 9, 2013, and U.S. Patent No. 9,435,185 ('185 Patent) for the hydrate remediation system issued on September 6, 2016.

WWCS alleges that Oceaneering used information provided by WWCS under a nondisclosure agreement to create a subsea *715separator for its own Flowline Remediation System (FRS).14 Oceaneering has performed hydrate remediation using the FRS on multiple jobs since terminating its business relationship with WWCS.15 According to WWCS, Oceaneering's FRS and separator relies on the technologies described in the '725 and '185 Patents.16

B. Procedural History

On May 21, 2015, WWCS filed its initial complaint against Oceaneering, pleading patent infringement as well as various claims under Texas and Louisiana state law.17 On November 16, 2015, the Court dismissed WWCS's breach of contract claim with prejudice to the extent that it rested on information in WWCS's patent applications or on conduct that occurred after December 11, 2012, and dismissed plaintiff's statutory trade secret misappropriation claim under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act.18 After plaintiff filed a second and third amended complaint, Oceaneering moved to dismiss plaintiff's patent infringement claims. On February 13, 2017, the Court dismissed WWCS's patent claims, but without prejudice and with leave to amend.19

On February 27, 2017, WWCS filed its fourth amended complaint, which is the operative complaint.20 The complaint asserts patent infringement claims, as well as claims for Texas common law misappropriation, Texas common law misappropriation of trade secrets, Louisiana statutory misappropriation of trade secrets under the Louisiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act ("LUTSA"), and Texas common law breach of contract, breach of confidential relationship, tortious interference with prospective business relations, fraudulent inducement, business disparagement, and unfair competition.21 Oceaneering then filed two motions for partial summary judgment, arguing that several claims were time-barred. The Court granted these motions in part on August 23, 2017, dismissing WWCS's LUTSA claim and its claims for Texas common law misappropriation, Texas common law misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of confidential relationship, and business disparagement.22 The Court also dismissed WWCS's claim for unfair competition to the extent the claim is based on misappropriation.23 Additionally, Oceaneering moved for summary judgment against WWCS on its claim for infringement of the '185 Patent, arguing that Oceaneering had not used its FRS since the '185 Patent issued. The Court granted this motion on August 28, 2017.24

After the parties briefed the disputed claim language of the '725 Patent, the Court held a claim construction hearing on October 12, 2017. See Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. , 517 U.S. 370, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577 (1996). The Court issued its claim construction order on November 6, 2017.25 Oceaneering and *716WWCS have now filed cross-motions for summary judgment on WWCS's claim for infringement of the '725 Patent.26 Additionally, WWCS moves for reconsideration of the Court's claim construction order.27

C. Claims of the '725 Patent

The '725 Patent, titled "Subsea Fluid Separator," contains 20 claims, three independent and 17 dependent. WWCS asserts infringement of independent Claim 1 and dependent Claims 11 and 12.28 Claim 1 is set forth below:

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Bluebook (online)
305 F. Supp. 3d 711, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wrights-well-control-servs-llc-v-oceaneering-intl-inc-laed-2018.