Halliburton Wants Schlumberger Patents Canceled

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

"Halliburton Co. isn’t content to limit its battle for market share with Schlumberger Ltd.to the oil field these days. It’s opened a new front in an unlikely place: the patent office. The Houston-based provider of drilling services is waging an aggressive campaign to persuade the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel some of Schlumberger’s fracking-related patents, telling the agency they’re not inventions but old ideas repackaged. At the same time, Halliburton is pursuing more patents and was awarded 35 percent more in 2017 compared to the previous year."

Got a competition lesson from Apple, didya, Halliburton?

[Addy + 14]

It's kind of mind-boggling. Halliburton filed 738 patents last year alone. I didn't realize there could possibly be that many individual things that are proprietary in a single year for a single company. At that rate, I would be surprised if there wasn't a bit of overlap between the big oilfield service providers.

[Rodent + 1,424]

So what does all this mean? I mean if the courts decide that Slumberger infringed or something, what happens then?

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

They'd have to cough up compensations?

16 hours ago, Addy said:

It's kind of mind-boggling. Halliburton filed 738 patents last year alone. I didn't realize there could possibly be that many individual things that are proprietary in a single year for a single company. At that rate, I would be surprised if there wasn't a bit of overlap between the big oilfield service providers.

Could be anything from a little screw with a shape that's a little bit different from the competitors to a drilling bit or something...