Stryker Corp. (NYSE:SYK) was dismissed as a defendant in a patent infringement lawsuit after inking a licensing deal for Hospital Systems Corp.’s medical picture archiving and communication system technology.
The Kalamazoo, Mich.-based medical device giant was one of nine firms sued by Acacia Research Corp. (NSDQ:ACRI) subsidiary HSC in a lawsuit alleging that they infringed a pair of patents covering its medical image storage, retrieval and transmission system. HSC alleged that the defendants sold competing systems based on the patents covering the technology; in Stryker’s case, the allegedly infringing product was its OfficePACS Power System.
But after Stryker and HSC struck a licensing deal for Stryker to use the technology, the companies filed a motion to dismiss Stryker as a defendant in the case.
Judge T. John Ward of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas granted the motion, according to court documents, ordering the companies to bear their own legal costs and waiving all rights of appeal.
HSC struck a similar deal with another defendant in the case, Sage Software, in late October, 2009, and Ward subsequently dismissed Sage as a defendant, according to court documents.