PerkinElmer and a long-time joint venture partner have resolved all of their legal battles, with PerkinElmer agreeing to drop a patent-infringement suit as part of a broader deal clearing the way for MDS Inc. to sell a division producing plasma mass spectrometers to a third company.

Waltham, Mass.-based PerkinElmer (NYSE:PKI) last month sued MDS (NYSE:MDZ) after the Toronto-area company announced plans in September to sell its Analytical Technologies division to Danaher Corp. (NYSE:DHR) for $650 million. PerkinElmer and MDS began their collaboration in 2001 to develop so-called “time-of-flight” mass spectrometers.