Synergetics USA, Iridex Settle Lawsuits

Synergetics USA Inc. has agreed to pay Iridex Corp. $6.5 million over five years to settle a patent litigation lawsuit, the medical device makers said Tuesday.

Under the deal, O’Fallon, Mo.-based Synergetics will make an initial payment of $2.5 million to Iridex on April 16, followed by annual payments of $800,000 on the same date through 2012.

Additionally, the two companies have agreed to cross-license various patents royalty-free, and Synergetics was granted the right to manufacture and supply various disposable products for Iridex, based in Mountainview, Calif.

Iridex makes lasers used in eye surgery. Synergetics makes a variety of devices used in eye and brain surgery.

“This agreement allows Synergetics to continue marketing its proprietary and patent-pending, new two-connector system under a fully paid, irrevocable Iridex license,” said Gregg D. Scheller, Synergetics CEO and president, in a statement.

Separately, Iridex President and Chief Executive Barry G. Caldwell said the settlement opens “the opportunity in the future to find ways in which we might work together” to supply products to ophthalmologists.

The settlement ends all legal proceedings between the companies – including claims filed in the U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania and those filed in the U.S. District Court of Missouri, where a trial was scheduled to begin on April 16.

The Missouri lawsuit concerned Iridex’s proprietary laser probe connector technology. The Pennsylvania lawsuit related to Synergetics’ patented directional laser probe technology and Iridex’s intuitive laser probe technology, for which a patent is pending.

SOURCE: AP