China’s Mindray Medical (NYSE:MR) announced today that it took a $15 million "litigation charge" to settle an unspecified "commercial dispute" with Beckman Coulter Inc. (NYSE:BEC).
Mindray said little other than that the dispute was unrelated to any intellectual property or product liability matters, but the companies have a history.
Mindray and Beckman in 2009 mutually agreed to terminate a joint development and OEM agreement for a chemical analyzer, SEC filings show. The termination resulted in a one-time $14 million payment to Mindray.
"The agreement resulted from changes in business strategy by Beckman Coulter, Inc. after it acquired the Olympus Diagnostic division," Mindray said at the time.
Mindray did not return requests for comment.