ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) ("ChampionX") noted today that its US Synthetic Corp., a leading provider of polycrystalline diamond cutters for oil and gas drilling, has secured a significant legal victory as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversing a prior International Trade Commission (ITC) determination that had deemed the company's patent claims ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

The case, involving U.S. Patent No. 10508502, pertains to a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) used in rotary drill bits, which exhibits superior diamond to diamond bonding. The ITC had initially ruled that the patent's claims were directed to an abstract idea, arguing that the disclosed magnetic properties were merely side effects of the manufacturing process rather than physical characteristics of the compound. However, the Federal Circuit disagreed, finding that the claims described a specific composition of matter and not an abstract idea, reinforcing that the magnetic properties provide meaningful insights into the PDC's physical characteristics.