Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) and Zoll Medical say they’re close to settling a long-running patent spat over automated external defibrillator technology.
Zoll and Philips have battled for years in the courts over their respective AED technologies. This case began when Philips sued Zoll in 2010, according to court documents, alleging infringement of six AED patents (a later suit, filed by Philips in 2012, claimed infringement of those patents plus another two not named in the original suit). In 2013 Zoll asked the patent board for inter partes review of the eight patents, hoping for invalidity rulings. But the patent office demurred, prompting Zoll to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to compel the patent office to grant its request for review.
The appeals court shut down Zoll’s bid in August 2014, ruling that it lacks the authority to overturn the patent office’s decisions on whether to grant a review and granting Philips’ motion for dismissal. Three years later a federal jury in Boston issued a mixed verdict, awarding $3.3 million in damages to Chelmsford, Mass.-based Zoll and $10.4 million in damages ti Philips.
In a Nov. 3 filing with the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, the companies asked the court to temporarily stay the case until Dec. 4 pending the finalization of their agreement.
The parties met Oct. 27 in New York City for a day of settlement talks, according to the filing, and “have continued to actively discuss settlement since then.”
“The parties have now reached substantial agreement on aspects of a settlement structure and desire further time to negotiate and finalize an agreement that will resolve this matter,” they wrote in the filing.