In a recent move , Medtronic Inc have announced on Monday that it has agreed to settle the patent-infringement lawsuit filed against AGA Medical Corp , in 2007 for infringement of Medtronic's Jervis patent family.

It may be noted that in the lawsuit, Gridley based Medtronic alleged that AGA had infringed upon the patent for its Jervis family of patents, which cover the use of stress to restrain self-expanding medical devices made of nitinol. Nitinol is a sharp metal alloy which is frequently used in medical devices, including Medtronic's transcatheter coronary heart valves.

The patents are scheduled to expire in 2018. Under the terms of the settlement, Plymouth based AGA will make undisclosed payments to Medtronic, which in turn will grant a non-exclusive license to AGA to use the Jervis patients.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) has widely licensed the Jervis patents to U.S medical device makers and will continue to offer licenses moving forward.