Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc. v. Pac. Drilling, Inc., CIVIL ACTION NO. H-13-1088

• Decision Date: 27 May 2015
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION NO. H-13-1088
• Parties: TRANSOCEAN OFFSHORE DEEPWATER DRILLING, INC., Plaintiff, v. PACIFIC DRILLING, INC., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

TRANSOCEAN OFFSHORE DEEPWATER DRILLING, INC., Plaintiff,
v.
PACIFIC DRILLING, INC., et al., Defendants.

CIVIL ACTION NO. H-13-1088

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION

May 27, 2015

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER CONSTRUING DISPUTED CLAIMS

I. Introduction and Summary of Claim Construction Ruling

Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc. alleges that Pacific Drilling SA, Pacific Drilling Services, Inc., Pacific Santa Ana S.A.R.L., Pacific Sharav S.A.R.L., Pacific Drilling, Inc., and Pacific Drilling Operations, Inc. (together, "Pacific") infringed three Transocean patents relating to rigs for offshore-oil exploration and drilling. Transocean seeks damages for, and an injunction against, Pacific's alleged infringement and inducement of infringement.

The patents are: U.S. Patent No. 6,085,851 (the '851 Patent); U.S. Patent No. 6,047,781 (the '781 Patent); and U.S. Patent No. 6,068,069 (the '069 Patent). (Docket Entry Nos. 1, 5). The '851 Patent is the parent patent. The '781 Patent is a continuation of the '851 Patent, and the '069 Patent is a continuation of the '781 Patent.¹ The parties dispute how to construe terms in claim 10 of the '851 Patent, claims 10-13 and 30 of the '781 Patent, and claims 17-19 of the '069 Patent. (Docket Entry Nos. 43 & 43-1).² After the parties submitted tutorials, briefs, and

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exhibits,³ the court held a hearing under Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 517 U.S. 370 (1996),⁴ at which counsel presented arguments supporting their competing claim constructions. On October 27, 2014, this court issued a Memorandum and Order in a separate case Transocean filed against a different defendant, Stena Drilling Limited, construing the same claims from the same patents. See Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc. v. Stena Drilling Ltd., No. 4:08-cv-3287, 2014 WL 5460588 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 27, 2014). The parties in this case dispute the same claim terms and offer the same competing constructions as in Stena.

Based on the briefs, the record, the arguments of counsel, the applicable law, and the information gained from construing the same claim terms in the Stena case, the court sets out its construction of the disputed terms, as follows:

Disputed Term	Court's Construction
"a derrick"; ('781 Patent, claim 10); "a drilling superstructure"; ('851 Patent, claims 10, 12; '781 Patent, claim; 30; '069 Patent, claims 17, 19)	"a single structure mounted upon a drilling; deck that supports the load of drilling; operations"
"tubular advancing station connected to; said drilling superstructure for advancing; tubular members"; ('069 Patent, claim 17)	"an assembly of equipment capable of; advancing tubular members to the seabed"

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"means . . . for transferring tubular; assemblies"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claims 10,; 30)	A means-plus-function term governed by; § 112 ¶ 6.; Function: transferring tubular assemblies; directly between advancing stations or; indirectly through a setback envelope.; Structure: overhead derrick cranes, rail; supported pipe handlers, or equivalent; structure.
"assembly . . . operable to transfer tubular; assemblies"); ('069 Patent, claim 17)	A means-plus-function term governed by; § 112 ¶ 6.; Function: transferring tubular assemblies; directly between advancing stations or; indirectly through a setback envelope.; Structure: overhead derrick cranes, rail; supported pipe handlers, or equivalent; structure.
"tubular handling system for transferring; tubular assemblies between said first; tubular setback envelope and said second; tubular setback envelope and said first top; drive station and said second top drive; station"; ('781 Patent, claim 13)	A means-plus-function term governed by; § 112 ¶ 6.; Function: transferring tubular assemblies; directly between advancing stations or; indirectly through a setback envelope.; Structure: overhead derrick cranes, rail; supported pipe handlers, or equivalent; structure.
a "well"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claims 10,; 30; '069 Patent, claim 17); "the well"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claims 10,; 30; '069 Patent, claim 17)	"one or more wells"

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"drilling operations"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claims; 10-11, 30; '069 Patent, claim 17); "drilling activity"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claims 10,; 30; '069 Patent, claim 17)

"operations required to construct a well"

"auxiliary drilling activity"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claim 30; '069 Patent, claim 17); "drilling operations auxiliary to said; drilling operations"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claims 30,; 30; '069 Patent, claim 17); "operations auxiliary to drilling; operations"; ('851 Patent, claim 10; '781 Patent, claims 10,; 30; '069 Patent, claim 17); "operations . . . auxiliary to said drilling; operations"; ('781 Patent, claims 10-11)

"operations removed from the critical path for; drilling a well"

The docket call scheduled for June 3, 2015, is cancelled. The parties are ordered to appear for a status conference on June 18, 2015, at 8:30 a.m., in Courtroom 11-B, 515 Rusk Avenue, Houston Texas, 77002.

The reasons for these claim-construction rulings are explained in detail below.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction and Summary of Claim Construction Ruling _ 1

II. Background _ 6

III. The Legal Standards for Claim Construction _ 8

IV. Analysis _ 12

A. "Derrick" and "Drilling Superstructure" _ 13

1. Whether "derrick" is limited to a "single tower structure" _ 14
2. Whether the "derrick" is "mounted on a drilling deck" _ 16
3. Whether a derrick supports "the load of drilling operations" or the "weight of the tubular strings used in drilling" _ 21

B. "Tubular advancing station connected to said drilling superstructure for advancing tubular members." _ 22

1. The legal standard for a means-plus-function claim _ 22
2. Whether "tubular advancing station connected to said drilling superstructure for advancing tubular members" is in means-plus-function form _ 30

C. "Means . . . for transferring tubular assemblies." _ 39

1. Whether the claim covers indirect transfers _ 40
2. Whether the claims provide for transfers below the drill floor _ 46

D. Additional tubular transferring terms: "assembly . . . operable to transfer tubular assemblies" and a "tubular handling system for transferring tubular assemblies between said first tubular setback envelope and said second tubular setback envelope and said first top drive station and said second top drive station." _ 52

1. "assembly . . . operable to transfer tubular assemblies." _ 53
2. "Tubular handling system for transferring tubular assemblies between said first tubular setback envelope and said second tubular setback envelope and said first top drive station and said second top drive station." _ 56

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E. "A Well" and "the Well" _ 58

F. "Drilling Operations" and "Drilling Operations Auxiliary to Said Drilling Operations" _ 63

1. The legal standard for indefiniteness _ 64
2. Whether the disputed claims are indefinite _ 66

V. Conclusion _ 73

II. Background

Conventional deep-sea oil exploration requires drilling a wellbore—a hole—in the seabed. The driller must alternate between drilling the hole and lining it with pipe. (Docket Entry No. 22 at 1-2). The bit used to drill the hole is suspended on a drill string made up of sections or "joints" of drill pipe. The parties call these joints "tubular members," "tubular assemblies, or "tubular strings." The tubular members are connected to each other on the drilling rig. Usually, a hoist apparatus called a drawworks⁵ is attached to the drill string and raises and lowers it using a traveling block. As the hoisting equipment lowers the drill bit to the seabed, the drill string is lengthened. Transocean calls the location where this lengthening occurs a "tubular advancing station." There, a rotary table grips and supports the suspended drill string, the traveling block is detached, and a new joint of drill pipe is connected to the string. The hoist is then reattached to the string, the rotary table releases its grip, and the drill string continues its descent to the seabed. Once the new joint has reached the drill floor, the process repeats. Downward progress halts as each new joint of drill pipe is added to the string. This process continues until the drill bit reaches the seabed.

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The advent of the top drive, a large, powerful motor hung from the traveling block, expedited wellbore drilling. Drillers could add multiple joints of drill pipe, typically in "stands" of three, to the drill string at the same time. Before top drives, rotary-table rigs could attach only one 30-foot joint to the drill string at a time. The drill-pipe stands are preassembled and vertically stored in areas that the patents refer to as "setback envelopes," located near the drilling stations. Pieces of equipment called iron roughnecks travel on tracks to and from the setback envelopes to thread the preassembled stands on the drill string.

Drilling begins when the drill bit reaches the seabed. The top drive attaches to the drill string and turns the drill bit.⁶ The initial wellbore is drilled and the drill string is raised back to the surface. A string of casing pipe—a type of tubular steel—is then lowered to the seabed. The casing pipe lines the wellbore and provides structural stability. Lowering casing pipe to the seabed is frequently interrupted as additional joints of casing are added to the drill string.

Once the casing reaches the wellbore, it is cemented in place. This process is repeated as a slightly smaller but deeper hole is drilled and cased through the original cemented casing. (Docket Entry No. 22 at 8). When the wellbore reaches the intended depth, the driller installs a blowout preventer on the top, intended to prevent the uncontrollable escape of oil and gas from the well.

Like the drill string, the blowout preventer is connected to, and lowered from, the drilling rig by steel tubulars. These tubulars, called riser pipe, are thicker and heavier than drill pipe. The...