ION Wins Appeal Affirming Patent Infringement Judgment and Injunction Against Sercel

HOUSTON, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ION Geophysical Corporation (NYSE: IO) today announced that on February 17, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the trial court's judgment that Sercel's 408UL, 428XL, and SeaRay digital sensor units infringe ION's U.S. Patent No. 5,852,242.  As a result of the appellate court's ruling, the permanent injunction originally entered by the trial court in favor of ION on February 16, 2011, remains in effect, and Sercel and parties acting in concert with Sercel continue to be prohibited from making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing in the United States (including territorial waters of the United States) the infringing products, and all other products that are only colorably different from those products.

The technology within ION's patent is incorporated in the VectorSeis® sensor technology used by ION and by ION's joint venture company, INOVA Geophysical.  ION and INOVA products that use the VectorSeis technology include FireFly®, ARIES II®, Hawk™, VectorSeis Ocean and Scorpion® seismic acquisition systems.

In February 2011, the trial judge entered a judgment in ION's favor in the amount of $10.7 million plus interest.  The parties will now return to the trial court to determine the amount of additional damages that ION is entitled to receive as a result of additional infringing marine sales by Sercel prior to the jury verdict and additional sales of infringing products by Sercel after the jury verdict.

The information included herein contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may vary fundamentally from those described in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include risk factors that are disclosed by ION from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About ION
ION Geophysical Corporation is a leading provider of geophysical technology, services, and solutions for the global oil & gas industry. ION's offerings are designed to allow E&P operators to obtain higher resolution images of the subsurface to reduce the risk of exploration and reservoir development, and to enable seismic contractors to acquire geophysical data safely and efficiently. Additional information about ION is available at www.iongeo.com.

Contacts
ION (Investor relations)
Chief Financial Officer
Greg Heinlein, +1 281.552.3011

ION (Media relations)
Director - Corporate Marketing
Karen Abercrombie, +1 713.366.7281
[email protected]

SOURCE ION Geophysical Corporation

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