Boston Scientific Corporation (Boston Scientific), a US-based medical device company, has agreed to settle all outstanding litigation with Bruce N. Saffran on March 16, 2009. On December 16, 2005, Saffran filed a suit against Boston Scientific in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging that certain of our coronary stent systems infringe a patent owned by Saffran.
On February 11, 2008, a jury found that our TAXUS Express and TAXUS Liberté stent products infringe Saffran’s patent and awarded damages of $431 million. The District Court also awarded Saffran $69 million in pre-judgement interest. On August 5, 2008, the company filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. and a hearing before a panel of the Federal Circuit occurred on March 2, 2009. A joint motion to dismiss the appeal was filed on March 17, 2009. On February 21, 2008, Saffran filed a second complaint seeking damages for the continued sale of Taxus stent products. That case will also be dismissed.
In connection with the settlement, the company expects to record a pre-tax charge to earnings of $50 million during the first quarter of 2009.