Boston Scientific to pay $300M in damages to inventor's estate

A Maryland court has ordered Boston Scientific to pay more than $300 million in damages to the estate of an inventor.

The case involves Guidant Corp., a Minnesota-based company that Boston Scientific bought in 2006.

A lawsuit alleged Guidant withheld licensing payments it owed to the inventor of technology used in an implantable defibrillator. The device delivers a shock or pulses to the heart to correct an irregular heartbeat. The inventor's estate, Mirowski Family Ventures, was awarded the damages.

Debbie Wang is senior equity analyst with Morningstar. "The estate has been extremely aggressive in defending its intellectual property and the licensing agreements it has struck up," said Debbie Wang, a senior equity analyst with Morningstar, "not only with Boston but also with Medtronic."

Wang said she doubts the damages will have a big impact on Boston Scientific's bottom line.

"In the grand scheme of things, in terms of what Boston Scientific generates in its cash flows and all of that," she said, "it actually doesn't make a huge difference to the company and what its shares are worth."

Boston Scientific said it will try to overturn the judgment.