Visx Settles Lawsuit With Bausch & Lomb

Visx Inc., the No. 1 maker of vision-correction lasers, settled a patent-infringement lawsuit with rival Bausch & Lomb Inc., despite protests by investor Carl Icahn, who holds about 10% of Visx.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Visx sued Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch & Lomb’s surgical unit in federal court in Wilmington, Del. The suit, filed in September, accused Bausch & Lomb of infringing a 1992 patent for a laser surgery method to correct abnormalities of the eye.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan Jr. dismissed the case Tuesday after the companies reached an agreement to exchange licenses for their patents related to the technology.

“As consideration, Bausch & Lomb [will] pay a royalty to Visx for each procedure performed in the U.S.” using Bausch & Lomb’s refractive laser, the companies said.

Icahn, who wants Visx to be sold, asked the company last month not to settle the lawsuit, saying the infringement claim was valid and a settlement might make Visx a less-attractive takeover target.

Shares of Visx, which reported $271.2 million in 1999 sales, rose 31 cents to close at $12.06 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Bausch & Lomb, with $1.75 billion in 1999 sales, fell 13 cents to close at $36.81, also on the NYSE.