NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – MDS today said that it has signed a settlement agreement with PerkinElmer regarding litigation brought by PerkinElmer against the firm in Ontario, Canada.
Last month, PerkinElmer filed a notice of application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeking to block MDS' pending sale of a joint venture between the firms to Danaher, which has inked a deal to acquire MDS Analytical Technologies. MDS Analytical Technologies and PerkinElmer have a joint venture to develop, manufacture, and sell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers. MDS has noted that this product line represents less than 10 percent of annual revenue generated by the Analytical Technologies business.
Two weeks ago at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, PerkinElmer CEO Robert Friel declined to comment on the dispute, but said that the firm wants its joint venture to stay with MDS and not be "outsourced to Danaher."
Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed by the firms. However, MDS said that it expects to close the sale of the Analytical Technologies business to Danaher by the end of the first calendar quarter of 2010.
Last week, PerkinElmer filed a separate suit in the US against MDS and its mass spectrometry joint venture partner Life Technologies for allegedly infringing five of its US patents related to mass spec technology.