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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2025
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | 12. Commitments and Contingencies The Company operates globally, with operations in 57 countries, and is therefore subject to variety of laws and regulations in multiple jurisdictions. As a result, the Company may be involved in various legal or governmental proceedings, claims or investigations, including personal injury, property damage, environmental, intellectual property, commercial, tax, compliance, trade regulation and other matters arising in the ordinary course of business. There is inherent risk in such matters, and no assurance can be given as to the outcome of these proceedings. Except as discussed herein, the resolution of pending litigation and/or governmental proceedings, in the opinion of management, will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations or consolidated financial position. The Company is subject to customs and trade regulation laws and regulations, including tariffs, in the countries in which we do business and countries to and from which, we import and/or export goods. Such trade regulations can be complex and conflicting, as different countries use customs and trade laws and regulations to promote conflicting policy objectives. Compliance with these laws and regulations presents challenges which could result in material tariffs and liabilities (for example, alleged violation of those laws or when laws conflict between countries). The Company is currently pursuing litigation against several companies involving royalties due under licenses for technology related to drill bits. This technology resulted in a portfolio of patents related to leaching technology, a revolutionary technology owned by the Company that improves the performance of drill bits and other products utilizing certain synthetic diamond parts. The Company previously sued several drill bit manufacturers for patent infringement and those lawsuits were resolved by a series of licensing agreements with various drill bit manufacturers (the “License Agreements”). To settle and end litigation or to avoid litigation, the licensees were provided access to the portfolio of leaching patents owned by the Company in exchange for a royalty payment, as defined in each License Agreement. The companies agreed to pay the royalties for the right to use the portfolio of patents, whether they used some, all or none of the specific patented claims in any particular patent. The License Agreements provide that they terminate on the date of the last to expire of the patents in the licensed portfolio. Having obtained the benefit of these licenses for more than a decade, all of the drill bit manufacturer licensees unilaterally stopped making royalty payments even though all of the patents in the portfolio have not expired. These companies have asserted, among other reasons, that they are entitled to stop making these payments because they claim to not manufacture products covered by the unexpired patents. Some of these companies stopped making payments after the expiration of what are allegedly the patents in the portfolio that they elected to use. Others paid for some period of time after that date but have since stopped making payments. The Company has sued asserting that failure to pay the royalties is a breach of the License Agreements. The Company is in litigation with most of the licensees seeking a judicial determination that it is entitled to be paid royalties pursuant to the terms of the License Agreements. The licensees have responded with a number of alleged defenses and requests for declaratory judgment all focused on avoiding the payments called for under the License Agreements. The parties’ legal filings to date can be found in the following cases: Grant Prideco, Inc., et al. v. Schlumberger Technology Corp., et al., No. 4:23-cv-00730; Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. v. Grant Prideco, Inc., et al., No. 4:23-cv-01789; and Grant Prideco, Inc., et al. v. Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations Inc., et al., No. 4:25-cv-03459, all in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. We have also recently initiated litigation against Taurex Drill Bits. The legal filings to date can be found in the case Grant Prideco, Inc., et al. v. Taurex Drill Bits, L.L.C., No. 25-BC11B-0065, in the Eleventh Business Court Division for Harris County, Texas. On September 29, 2025, and October 7, 2025, in the lawsuits against Halliburton, Ulterra and Varel, the district court issued rulings, the effect of which is that NOV cannot collect royalties under the License Agreements after the date each licensee stopped making royalty payments. NOV believes the court’s ruling is incorrect and has filed a Notice of Appeal. The Company continues to strongly believe that the royalties for which it has sued are due and owing pursuant to the terms of the License Agreements. Of course, there is inherent risk with the related litigation and the Company makes no assurances as to the outcome of such litigation. See Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for discussion of the financial impact of royalties. Geopolitical events continue to pose supply chain and other business risks. The Company’s ability to manufacture equipment and perform services could be impaired by such disruptions and the Company could be exposed to liabilities resulting from additional interruption or delay in its ability to perform due to factors such as war, materials shortages, inflationary pressures, limited manpower, tariffs or otherwise. We may face loss of workers, labor shortages, litigation, fines and/or other adverse consequences resulting from ongoing labor impacts. The combined impact of supply chain and labor market disruptions along with continuing inflationary impacts, as well as monetary and regulatory policies could have material adverse impacts on our financial results. Disputes may arise from a variety of causes, including weather impacts, cyber, geopolitical, regulatory or other business risks, sometimes these risks may trigger application of force majeure and other contract provisions concerning allocation of responsibility among customers, the Company, and suppliers, resulting in material added cost and/or litigation. Our customers may attempt to cancel or delay projects, cancel contracts, or may invoke force majeure clauses. Our customers may also seek to delay or may default on their payments to us. As a result, the Company may be exposed to additional costs, liabilities and risks which could materially adversely impact our financial performance and results. These potential operational and service delays could result in contractual or other legal claims from our customers. At this time, it is not possible to quantify all these risks, but the combination of these factors could have a material impact on our financial results.

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