IN BRIEF / Southern California

Unocal Corp. said it won a court battle that could enable it to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in awards for patent violations of one of its anti-smog gasoline blends.

The El Segundo-based company said it won approval from the federal district court in Los Angeles to receive an account of how much gasoline produced by the state’s refining companies from Aug. 1, 1996, to Dec. 1, 2000, had violated the patent.

Unocal said it asked the court for damages of 5.75 cents for each gallon of gasoline that infringed the patent, but said the court did not make findings of the specific amount Unocal would be awarded.

“We’re expecting an assessment by the court in two to three weeks,” a Unocal spokesman said.

Unocal has indicated it may pursue patent violations on all five of its cleaner-burning gasoline blends nationwide--a factor a number of gasoline producers say has led them to make less of the fuel.

The infringing refining companies in California, which include Exxon Mobil Corp., Texaco Inc., Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP, have been aggressive in their defense by filing unsuccessful appeals and motions to vacate the case.