Abbott and Dexcom have agreed to settle all of their remaining international legal disputes over patents related to their continuous glucose monitors for people with diabetes—just weeks after a European court sided with Abbott and revoked some of Dexcom’s claims for its wearable blood sugar tracker.
Abbott announced the deal December 23, saying the agreement includes a new 10-year truce where both companies will refrain from litigating “patent, trade dress, and design rights disputes with each other,” and that no money changed hands as part of the settlement.
“Abbott considers this agreement a positive development, as it allows the company to fully focus on supporting people with diabetes with its technologies and services,” the company said.
Meanwhile, in a regulatory filing, Dexcom said Abbott had granted it “a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, fully paid-up license to certain patents and patent applications relating to analyte sensing,” including those related to the lawsuit.
Earlier last month the European Union’s Unified Patent Court, through a panel of judges at its location in Paris, decided that (PDF) one of Dexcom’s EU patents should be nullified, relating specifically to how its CGM transmits blood sugar readings via remote monitoring applications—for example, if a person with diabetes used the company’s G7 sensor and app to share their glucose data with healthcare providers or family members.
Dexcom had taken Abbott to court in the EU in early 2024, saying its FreeStyle Libre system’s LibreLinkUp app infringed on its intellectual property, while Abbott sought to have the patent revoked in its entirety.
Separately, in the U.S., the two companies have traded multiple lawsuits over the years and previously agreed to a ceasefire over patent infringement through a settlement that covered 2014 to 2021.