The march toward peace in the stent wars continues. A couple months ago, we reported that Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic had signed a blockbuster deal that ended all their patent litigation over cardiac stents. Now comes news that two more major stent players — Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson’s Cordis unit — have settled more than a dozen stent-related patent suits. In a deal to resolve cases that have provided 12 years of billable hours for a horde of lawyers, Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific will pay New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson $716.3 million.
According to Boston Scientific, the settlement involves 14 suits, 10 of which are in jurisdictions outside the United States. We checked the dockets of the four U.S. suits to see which firms will suddenly have a lot more free time. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr is counsel to Boston Scientific in three of the suits. Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott appears for Johnson & Johnson in two of them. Other firms that have played roles in the litigation: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (J&J); Sidely Austin (J&J); Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler (J&J); Fish & Richardson (Boston); and Shearman & Sterling (Boston).
