In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that U.S. patent holders are eligible to recover lost profits—that were lost outside of the United States—for domestic infringement of a U.S. patent in WesternGeco v. Ion Geophysical, 585 U.S. ______ (2018).

WesternGeco owns four patents relating to ocean floor survey technology—for locating oil and gas deposits. ION manufactured the components for a competing system and sold those components to foreign companies that perform ocean floor surveys.