AGA to pay Medtronic $35M in stent patent settlement
Medtronic and AGA Medical have settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Medtronic in 2007 alleging that all of AGA's Amplatzer occluder and vascular plug devices infringe three of Medtronic's method and apparatus patents on shape memory alloy stents (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,190,546, 6,306,141 and 5,067,957, collectively known as "the Jervis patents").

Plymouth, Minn.-based AGA will pay Medtronic $35 million over the next four years with the final payment due January 2014.

Under the agreement, all products and any new products developed and commercialized by AGA and using nitinol, will be covered for the term of the Jervis patents. Nitinol is a metal alloy used in its transcatheter coronary heart valve program, said the Minneapolis-based Medtronic, which noted that the last patent of the Jervis family is set to expire in 2018.

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