M/A-COM and GigOptix settle lawsuits

M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MTSI; MACOM) and GigOptix, Inc. (NYSE MKT: GIG) say they are done fighting each other in court. The two former protagonists in litigation have agreed to settle their respective lawsuits, with MACOM agreeing to pay GigOptix $7.25 million.

The bad blood began when three GigOptix employees, Vivek Rajgarhia, Vikas Manan and Stefano D’Agostino, left the company to form Optomai, a company that would develop products such as modulator drivers and transimpedance amplifiers – products GigOptix also makes. GigOptix asserted that these products were based on work the former employees performed while at their former jobs, and sued for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and patent infringement (see “GigOptix sues ex-employees, Optomai for alleged agreement breaches”). MACOM announced it had bought Optomai the day after GigOptix announced its suit. MACOM countersued GigOptix this past August, alleging that GigOptix's Thin Film Polymer on Silicon (TFPS) modulators (see "GigOptix tests polymer 40G Mach-Zehnder modulator with Tier 1 optical transponder manufacturers") infringed on two MACOM patents. GigOptix, naturally, denied these allegations.

Further details of the settlement remain undisclosed, except for the assertion that “neither party admits liability to the other, and each side is satisfied with the confidential settlement reached between the parties,” in the words of a press release. The settlement was announced shortly before the original GigOptix suit was scheduled to go to trial September 23.

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