Nektar settles university patent fight

Nektar Therapeutics has agreed to settle a patent suit filed by the University of Alabama in Huntsville for $25 million. The dispute centered on the work of Milton Harris, who started a company Nektar bought five years ago for $197 million. Harris had worked at the university and the university claimed ownership of Harris' patents. In the agreement, Nektar and Harris jointly paid $15 million to the university while Nektar agreed to pay $1 million a year for 10 years. In return, the university is dropping its claims to the PEGylation patent portfolio.

- here's the AP report on the settlement