Bovie Medical, a manufacturer of electrosurgical products, has announced a settlement to the June 10, 2010, action brought by Salient Surgical Technologies and Medtronic. In the complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that the sale and use of Bovie’s SEER (Saline Enhanced Electrosurgical Resection) fluid-assisted electrosurgical device infringed on a patent owned by Medtronic and licensed to Salient.

The settlement calls for the Melville, N.Y.-based Bovie to immediately exit the monopolar and bipolar saline-enhanced RF device business (including Bovie’s SEER and BOSS) globally, and to acknowledge the validity and enforceability of Medtronic’s patent in the U.S. and Europe, through February 2015.

In exchange, the Minneapolis-based Medtronic will make a one-time payment to Bovie of $750,000. Terms also include a provision for a possible OEM contract manufacturing relationship between Bovie and Salient. Bovie already has a longstanding OEM contract manufacturing agreement with Medtronic for electrosurgical generators.

“After carefully weighing the considerable costs of continued litigation and the inherent uncertainty in this type of action, management concluded that this settlement was in the best interest of the company and its shareholders,” said Andrew Makrides, president and CEO of Bovie.