Boston Scientific Corp. finally reached a settlement of three patent disputes with Johnson & Johnson. According to the settlement, Boston Scientific will have to make a $1.73 billion payment to J&J.

The disputes originated in 2003. The three patents on which both the companies have dispute, are Boston Scientific's Jang patent and J&J's Palmaz and Gray patents. All these patents involve intellectual property in the cardiovascular arena. The Settlement is being seen as an effort by Boston Scientific to reduce litigation risk.

Boston Scientific's chief executive Ray Elliott said the settlement is a positive step in resolving legal risks posed by ongoing litigation. The company has settled no less than 17 lawsuits with J&J in the past year. "While we still have a number of litigation matters remaining, this recent settlement has materially reduced our financial risks going forward," Elliott said in a statement.

Boston Scientific will pay a total of $1.73 billion to settle suits in which Johnson & Johnson alleged patent infringement on various stent products.

Boston Scientific will pay $1 billion now and another $725 million next January. Though the amount of the money which Boston has to pay according to the settlement is very large, it doesn't seem to have a big impact on Boston's liquidity.

Boston Scientific said the settlement won't seriously impact its debt requirements, and will leave the company with significant cash available under its credit facilities. The insiders say that Boston Scientific is still planning to refinance debt coming due in 2011 by the middle of this year.