A federal appeals court today granted a joint motion by defibrillator rivals Zoll Medical and Philips Healthcare (NYSE:PHG) to withdraw the appeal of Zoll’s loss in a patent infringement lawsuit.
A federal judge tossed the lawsuit in April, ruling that its claims are virtually identical to the claims from an earlier lawsuit filed as part of the companies’ 4-year battle over automated external defibrillator technology.
Philips, the Dutch conglomerate whose healthcare division is based in Andover, Mass., sued its neighbor in nearby Chelmsford in June 2010, alleging infringement of 15 AED patents. Zoll countered with a lawsuit of its own a month later, accusing Philips of infringing 5 Zoll AED patents. The cases were later consolidated, according to court documents. The medical device companies filed a series of motions for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, but Judge Nathaniel Gorton in November 2013 denied all of them except a joint motion to nix certain claims, driving the case to a jury trial. The December trial resulted in wins and losses for both parties, with a jury ruling that Zoll infringed 4 Philips patents and that Philips infringed 2 Zoll patents.
In January, Zoll leveled another suit against Philips, alleging that its newer HeartStart XL+ also violates Zoll’s ‘187 patent. But Gorton agreed with Philips’ contention that the HeartStart XL+ is virtually identical to its MRx device, which was ruled out of the earlier cases and tossed the suit.
Zoll appealed Gorton’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which today said it would accede to the request for dismissal.
"The parties submit a joint stipulation to dismiss the above-captioned appeal pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b), which the court treats as a motion to withdraw the appeal," according to court documents. "The motion to withdraw the appeal is granted. The appeal is dismissed."
The appeals court also ordered each side to bear its own legal costs, according to the documents.