Press Release
November 2, 2022

U.S. International Trade Commission Finds Synthetic-Diamond Driller Patents Unenforceable

Goodwin’s Intellectual Property Litigation team and litigators from its trusted partner, Guantao Law Firm, secured a complete victory for CR Gems Superabrasives, Jenan Jingrui Superhard Material, and Fujian WanLong Superhard Material Technology in a patent infringement case brought by US Synthetic Corporation, a subsidiary of ChampionX Corporation. The U.S. International Trade Commission decided that every patent claim US Synthetic brought to trial was invalid and should not have been issued.  

US Synthetic lodged a wave of patent infringement allegations at the ITC against various Chinese companies alleging that these other companies were selling polycrystalline diamond compact drill bits similar to the kinds of bits described by patents US Synthetic owned. The five-member commission voted 4-1 that the asserted patent claims were invalid and there was no Section 337 violation, a total victory for CR Gems, Jingrui, and WanLong.

CR Gems is a manufacturing and application solutions of industrial diamond powder, CBN and PCD cutters for stone, construction, semiconductor, automobile, and glass.

Jingrui was established in July 1995.  It is a privately owned company, specialized in R&D and production of polycrystalline diamond compacts (PDC) used in oil-drilling, geological exploration, and coal mining.

WanLong is dedicated to developing and manufacturing quality PDC Cutters for oil drilling and coal mining.

The Goodwin/Guantao team was led by PJ McCarthy, Todd Marabella, and Alice Wang. 

For more details, read the Commission’s Notice of No Violation and related article in Law360