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St. Jude Medical Announces Superior Court Ruling in Trade Secret Lawsuit Involving Its OCT Business and Volcano Corporation and Axsun Technologies
Superior Court ruling follows jury verdict that found Volcano Corporation and Axsun Technologies misappropriated LightLab trade secrets
January 31, 2011 -- St. Paul, Minnesota -- St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ), a global medical device company, today announced that the Superior Court of Massachusetts has issued rulings in outstanding litigation between LightLab Imaging Inc. (acquired last year by St. Jude Medical), Volcano Corporation (Nasdaq: VOLC) and its subsidiary Axsun Technologies, Inc. The rulings find that Volcano Corporation and Axsun Technologies violated a Massachusetts law against engaging in unfair competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices, through a pattern of inappropriate conduct directed at key technology used in the company's Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) product platform.

The statutory violations arose in connection with Volcano's acquisition of Axsun Technologies, a key LightLab supplier, in 2008. The Court also found that these violations were knowing and willful and entitle LightLab to recover attorneys' fees.

In its decision, the Court found that Volcano viewed the Axsun acquisition as a means of "impeding the growth of a major competitor," that there was a "scheme orchestrated by Volcano and implemented with Axsun's assistance" to seek to supply LightLab with a less effective laser, and that this would "adversely affect the marketability" of LightLab's imaging system.

The Court's decision today adopts findings from a jury verdict in February 2010 in the same suit, in which the jury found that:
  • Axsun breached its contract with LightLab;
  • Axsun had disclosed LightLab trade secrets to Volcano;
  • Axsun and Volcano had misappropriated LightLab's trade secrets;
  • Volcano intentionally interfered with LightLab's contract with Axsun.
"St. Jude Medical and its LightLab subsidiary are pleased with the Court's recent ruling," said Frank Callaghan, president of the St. Jude Medical Cardiovascular Division. "It is gratifying to have both the jury and the Court rule in LightLab's favor on these important issues. We value the innovations we bring to the marketplace, and this case shows again that St. Jude Medical and its subsidiaries will protect our intellectual property and contract rights so that we can continue to bring leading edge products to the health care professionals we serve worldwide."

About St. Jude Medical
St. Jude Medical develops medical technology and services that focus on putting more control into the hands of those who treat cardiac, neurological and chronic pain patients worldwide. The company is dedicated to advancing the practice of medicine by reducing risk wherever possible and contributing to successful outcomes for every patient. St. Jude Medical is headquartered in St. Paul, Minn. and has four major focus areas that include: cardiac rhythm management, atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular and neuromodulation. For more information, please visit sjm.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include the expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including potential clinical successes, anticipated regulatory approvals and future product launches, and projected revenues, margins, earnings and market shares. The statements made by the Company are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include market conditions and other factors beyond the Company's control and the risk factors and other cautionary statements described in the Company's filings with the SEC, including those described in the Risk Factors and Cautionary Statements sections of the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended October 2, 2010. The Company does not intend to update these statements and undertakes no duty to any person to provide any such update under any circumstance.

Source: St. Jude Medical, Inc.