Boston Scientific to Pay $716M to Johnson & Johnson in Patent Infringement Settlement

Boston Scientific Corp. will pay $716.3 million to Cordis Corp., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, to settle 14 patent infringement lawsuits involving the use of stents for treating heart disease, according to the Natick, Mass.-based firm.

The action resolves the Palmaz infringement suit relating to Boston’s NIR stent, settles several other cardiology-related cases relating to patents in the Ding, Kastenhofer, Palmaz, and Fontirroche patent families, and exchanges paid-up licenses for certain intellectual properties.

All payments will be made from “existing cash on hand,” according to a statement by Boston Scientific.

“We are pleased we have been able to significantly reduce the amount of outstanding litigation we have with Johnson & Johnson,”: said Ray Elliott, president and CEO of Boston Scientific. “We continue to work with them to resolve other outstanding matters.”

Seth Fischer, company group chairman and worldwide franchise chairman of Cordis Corp., which is based in Bridgewater, N.J., said, “We are pleased to resolve several of these patent litigation.”

Other litigation between the two companies will not be affected by this settlement, including the Cordis lawsuit against Boston Scientific related to its Express, Taxus, Taxus Liberte and Promus Stents, and Cordis’s pending Fischell case against NIR. Boston’s lawsuit against the CYPHER Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent under the Jang patent will continue as well.

Here are details on the lawsuits:

• Cordis Corporation v. Medtronic Vascular, Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation et al., D. Del., CA 97-550

• Johnson & Johnson Inc., Expandable Grafts Partnership & Cordis Corporation v. Boston Scientific Ltd./Boston Scientifique LTEE, Canadian Federal Court, Toronto, Ontario docket: T-1822-97

• Johnson & Johnson Inc. v. Boston Scientific Ltd./Boston Scientifique LTEE, Canadian Federal Court, Toronto, Ontario docket T-63-08

• Boston Scientific Corporation v. Johnson & Johnson, ND Cal., CA 3:02-cv-790

• Schneider (Europe) GmbH v. Johnson & Johnson Medical NV, Brussels Court of First Instance under General Docket No. A.R. 04/9656/A/

• Schneider (Europe) GmbH v. Cordis Medizinische Apparate GmbH, Dusseldorf District Court, Action No. 4b O 211/07

• Schneider (Europe) GmbH v. Cordis, First Instance Court of Paris, Docket No. 06/02.924

• Schneider (Europe) GmbH v. Johnson & Johnson Medical S.P.A., Court of Turin

• Cordis v. Schneider—Damage request filed Aug. 3

• Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc. v. Cordis Corporation, D. Del., CA 03-283

• Boston Scientific Scimed Inc. v. Cordis Medizinische Apparate GmbH, District Court of Mannheim, Civil Division, docket No. 7 O 429/04;

• Boston Scientific Scimed Inc. v. Cordis Medizinische Apparate GmbH, District Court of Mannheim, Civil Division, docket No. 7 O 18/08;

• Scimed Life Systems, Inc. v. Cordis Corporation, United States District Court, Minnesota, Civil Action 97-752

• Cordis Corporation v. Scimed Life Systems Inc., United States District Court, Minnesota, Civil Action 4-96-261.