Device maker says Guidant infringed on its patents

Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. accused Guidant Corp. of infringing on patents for coronary stents, taking aim at one of its rival's key products just days before Guidant's $27 billion acquisition by Boston Scientific is set to close. A Boston Scientific spokesman downplayed the patent-infringement lawsuit, saying, ''We don't expect this suit to impact the transaction." Medtronic's lawsuit claims that patents it has licensed are being violated by the Multi-Link Vision and Xience V stents. (AP)

TA Associates, a Boston buyout firm, purchased eSecLending from Old Mutual PLC to profit from growth in securities lending. Terms weren't disclosed. Boston-based eSecLending manages about $21 billion in lending programs for pension funds and money managers in Europe and the United States, TA Associates said. TA managing director Kenneth Schiciano said eSecLending's management will have a minority stake in the company. (Bloomberg)

Sovereign Bancorp Inc., the third-largest US savings and loan, said it will install nearly 900 ATMs in CVS Corp. stores in six states in the Northeast. Sovereign is working with Cardtronics Inc., which operates more than 26,000 ATMs, to install the machines in CVS stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Adding the machines at CVS will nearly double Sovereign's ATM network. The thrift now operates more than 1,000 ATMs, and more than 650 banking offices, across much of the Northeast. (Reuters)

The maker of the antidepressant Paxil agreed to pay $14 million to states to settle allegations that it blocked generic versions of the drug from being made, causing the states to pay higher prices. A spokeswoman for Paxil's maker, GlaxoSmithKline, said the company denied any wrongdoing and was not admitting liability in making the settlement. The states, including Massachusetts, had alleged that Glaxo used frivolous patent-infringement lawsuits against generic drug makers, triggering automatic extensions of the patent for Paxil. That delayed the introduction of generic versions of the drug, resulting in higher prices both for Medicaid programs and the general public, according to the attorneys general who won the settlement, filed in federal court in Philadelphia. (AP)

Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group, and American Funds were sent petitions from 38,000 investors and consumers urging the support of shareholder resolutions on climate change. The three largest US mutual fund companies voted against or abstained from 11 resolutions last year that sought better strategies and more disclosure on global warming from companies, said Todd Larsen of Co-Op America, a Washington-based not-for-profit investor-education group. Co-Op America, Ceres, and the Union of Concerned Scientists worked together on the petitions. (Bloomberg)

NMT Medical Inc. said rival AGA Medical Corp. will pay $30 million to end a patent-infringement lawsuit over devices used to close holes in the heart. NMT sued in March 1999, claiming AGA infringed on a patent it controls. The settlement money will be shared with the inventor, Lloyd A. Marks, Boston-based NMT said. Closely held AGA said that under the agreement it can continue sales of its Amplatzer devices, called occluders. (Bloomberg)

A division of the Department of Labor has proposed eliminating the equal opportunity survey that measures whether federal contractors are obeying laws requiring fair hiring and employment of minorities, women, and other groups protected by civil rights laws. The proposal was made by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Senators Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and 26 other senators sent a letter opposing the change, saying the proposal would undermine enforcement of civil rights laws, including laws requiring equal pay for women and minorities. (Diane E. Lewis)

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