The Superior Court of Massachusetts has ruled in favor of Volcano Corp. in its litigation with LightLab Imaging. LightLab alleged that Volcano and its subsidiary Axsun Technologies Inc. used LightLab's trade secret information in the development of the Volcano OCT (optical coherence tomography) system and Axsun's OCT laser.
 
"After two-plus years of litigation, we are gratified by the Court's decision. Neither Volcano nor Axsun used any of LightLab's purported trade secrets in Volcano's development of its OCT System, or Axsun's OCT tunable laser," said Volcano president and CEO Scott Huennekens. "With LightLab's trade secret allegations now behind us, we will continue to focus our energy on developing key products that improve patient care."
 
The court found that "Axsun indisputably has technology and product capability developed independently of LightLab during its decades of work on tunable lasers." The two companies still have to play nice, though—at least until April 2014. That's when a supplier agreement between Axsun and LightLab (a St. Jude Medical subsidiary) expires. —Lawrence Lloyd