EP Global Communications (OTC:EPGL) said it’s parting ways with Cooper Cos. (NYSE:COO) subsidiary CooperVision on a co-development project for advanced contact lens technology.

Irvine, Calif.-based EP Global, which last year threw the gauntlet before Google (NSDQ:GOOG) on its much-ballyhooed smart contact lens program, said the Dec. 31 settlement with CooperVision allows each company to pursue the technology on its own.

CooperVision, based in Victor, N.Y., is slated to pay an unspecified amount in cash to retain some rights to jointly filed patent applications; EP Global said it’s due to keep ownership of the jointly filed applications and the marketing rights for any resulting products.

“We are happy and believe the agreement strikes a good balance for EPGL and its contribution. The technologies will now have an unlimited number of potential licensees worldwide, so that the most people are benefited. With this agreement, EPGL has gone from seeing its technologies under a single company’s umbrella to now a potentially unlimited number. That is very exciting for EPGL’s future,” president Michael Hayes said in prepared remarks.