Santa Barbara-based Asylum Research Corp., an employee-owned manufacturer of atomic force microscopes, announced Aug. 11 the patent litigation between it and Veeco Instruments, which started in September 2003, has been settled.
 

Under the terms of the settlement, Veeco, which has Santa Barbara and Camarillo offices,  and Asylum have agreed to drop pending claims against each other and agreed to a five-year, worldwide cross license of each other’s patents and a mutual covenant not to sue on patents either party has a right to assert.

Asylum will pay an initial license fee to Veeco plus an ongoing royalty for the five-year term of the cross license, the companies said in a press release.

As part of the settlement, Asylum acknowledged the validity of the Veeco patents asserted in the case. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.