Boston settles with J&J over heart patents for $716m
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Long-time cardiology adversaries Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson have settled 14 patent infringement lawsuits relating to the use and design of coronary stents and its related devices. Boston will pay J&J $716m to dismiss the lawsuits, which include the Palmaz-NIR patent case, in North America, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium. The funds will come from Boston's existing reserve for the Palmaz-NIR suit and from existing cash in hand. The settlement resolves most of the litigation between the two companies, although there are at least three lawsuits that are still active, according to The Wall Street Journal. The agreement comes four months after Medtronic said it will pay J&J $270m to settle their respective stent patent dispute (www.clinica.co.uk, May 11 2009).