NCS Multistage Inc. and NCS Multistage LLC asserted U.S. Patent 10,465,445, a float/casing tool used to run pipe in oil and gas wells, including horizontal wells. The Western District of Texas (Judge Albright) entered judgment for NCS against Nine Energy Service, Inc. in No. 6:20-cv-00277 after a jury trial. A related case against TCO Group AS produced a contributory-infringement judgment on the same patent.
What the court held in Nine Energy (precedential)
In NCS Multistage Inc. v. Nine Energy Service, Inc., No. 2025-1000, a panel of Judges Reyna, Hughes, and Cunningham vacated the judgments of infringement, no invalidity, and damages, and remanded for a new trial. The opinion reworks claim construction of "internal diameter" and "casing string." On prior art, the panel held that a private sale of NCS's AirLock device to a single customer was not a "public disclosure" under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1)(B) as interpreted through Sanho Corp. v. Kaijet Technology International Ltd., so that safe-harbor theory could not stand on the trial record.
What the court held in TCO (nonprecedential)
In NCS Multistage Inc. v. TCO Group AS, No. 2024-2379, the court affirmed the contributory-infringement judgment, vacated the judgment of no invalidity, and remanded. The new "casing string" construction did not require a new infringement trial on the apparatus claims on that record. Invalidity returns to the district court.
What it means in plain terms
NCS still has a live patent fight, but the Nine Energy jury win is gone. Claim-construction errors and the Sanho reading of inventor public-disclosure safe harbors drove the vacatur. Private sales and courier deliveries are a weak foundation for arguing that an inventor "publicly disclosed" the invention under section 102(b)(1)(B).
What to watch next
Watch for the new trial schedule in the Nine Energy case and how the district court retries invalidity after the construction changes. Also watch whether later oilfield and AIA cases cite the Sanho extension to section 102(b)(1)(B).