Elekta and Varian, the two dominant makers of radiation therapy equipment, spent years suing each other over patents on linear accelerators and treatment planning software, tangled separately over departing sales employees and trade secrets, and drew antitrust scrutiny around control of the service aftermarket. The Elekta vs. Varian patent fights ended in a global 2017 settlement with no money changing hands, and the rivalry has since been reshaped by Siemens Healthineers’ 2021 acquisition of Varian, which regulators approved only with binding interoperability commitments protecting competitors like Elekta.
What The Patent Fights Were About
Both companies build the same category of machine: linear accelerators that generate treatment beams, multileaf collimators that shape those beams around a tumor, and the software that plans and delivers treatments such as Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy. Each accused the other of putting its patented technology into rival products without a license.
In June 2015, William Beaumont Hospital and Elekta sued Varian in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Beaumont owned the patents and had licensed them exclusively to Elekta, and the complaint alleged that Varian’s TrueBeam linear accelerator infringed them.1Elekta. William Beaumont Hospital and Elekta File Patent Lawsuit Against Varian Medical Systems Varian was not just defending. It brought its own patent claims against Elekta, including a major action at the U.S. International Trade Commission that would prove the more dangerous front for Elekta’s U.S. business.
The ITC Investigation And Threat Of An Import Ban
Varian’s ITC complaint opened Investigation No. 337-TA-968, “Certain Radiotherapy Systems and Treatment Planning Software, and Components Thereof.” The ITC has a tool federal courts lack: exclusion orders that block infringing products from entering the United States. For a Swedish manufacturer that imports its equipment into the U.S. market, that possibility carried existential weight.
On October 27, 2016, the assigned administrative law judge issued a final initial determination finding that Elekta had violated Section 337 by infringing several Varian patents. The judge found violations on claims from three patents (the ‘154, ‘538, and ‘770 patents) and ruled for Elekta on claims from three others.2U.S. International Trade Commission. Notice of Commission Determination to Review 337-TA-968 Elekta said the infringement findings predominantly involved algorithms used in treatment planning software.3Elekta. USITC Publishes Initial Determination in Litigation Dispute The judge recommended an exclusion order barring the affected systems. The full Commission began its review in early 2017, but the case never reached a final decision. Settlement caught it first.
The 2017 Global Settlement
In 2017, Elekta and Varian announced a settlement that ended every pending patent case between them in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It resolved the ITC investigation, the Beaumont Hospital case in Michigan, and every other patent claim either company had on file against the other.4Elekta. Elekta and Varian Settle Patent Litigation
The structure was unusual. No payments moved in either direction, and neither company took on future financial obligations. Patent settlements typically involve licensing fees, running royalties, or a lump sum. A zero-dollar resolution across three jurisdictions and dozens of claims suggests both sides decided the cost and uncertainty of pressing on outweighed any courtroom win. The ITC case illustrates the calculus: Varian was ahead before the administrative law judge, but a final Commission ruling was uncertain, and Elekta had legitimate defenses on several of the patents at issue.
Trade Secrets And Departing Employees
The other major litigation front had nothing to do with patents. In an industry where sales representatives, engineers, and physicists carry deep knowledge of proprietary technology, pricing, and customer relationships, a departing employee is a competitive event.
Varian sued in Texas state court alleging that Elekta had lured away two of its sales representatives who took proprietary information with them. Cases like this usually turn on evidence that the departing employee transferred files, copied data onto a personal device, or forwarded confidential documents before resigning. The Varian-Elekta trade secret case was resolved by mutual agreement between the parties, separately from and earlier than the 2017 patent settlement.
Antitrust And The Service Aftermarket
A linear accelerator costs millions of dollars and needs ongoing maintenance, calibration, and parts replacement over its lifespan. Whoever sold the machine typically controls access to replacement parts, diagnostic software, and service documentation. That creates a chokepoint, and hospitals and independent service organizations have long raised concerns that manufacturers use it to force customers into their own service contracts at prices the market would not otherwise support.
Regulators have paid attention to competition in this market before. In 2000, the Department of Justice announced its intention to block a proposed Varian acquisition on the grounds that it would significantly reduce competition in radiation oncology management software and linear accelerators. The concern was that competitors would end up depending on Varian-supplied software to run their own machines, letting Varian steer customers toward its hardware.5U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Announces Its Intention to Block Varian Medical Systems Acquisition The same software lock-in worry runs through the rivalry today.
How The Siemens-Varian Merger Reshaped The Rivalry
The competitive landscape changed on April 15, 2021, when Siemens Healthineers completed its acquisition of Varian.6Siemens Healthineers. Siemens Healthineers Completes Acquisition of Varian The deal combined Varian’s radiation therapy equipment with Siemens’ diagnostic imaging portfolio, giving the combined company an integrated cancer care offering that runs from diagnosis through treatment. For Elekta, its primary rival now sat inside one of the world’s largest medical technology groups.
The European Commission approved the merger on February 19, 2021, but only with binding commitments designed to prevent Siemens Healthineers from using the combined position to shut out competitors. The core requirement is interoperability. Siemens Healthineers must keep its radiotherapy products compatible with third-party equipment, and competing vendors can file formal written requests for interoperability information covering treatment planning systems, oncology information systems, and respiratory motion management.7Siemens Healthineers. Written Requests on Interoperability with Radiation Therapy Products An independent monitoring trustee, NOCON Nothhelfer Consulting, oversees compliance.
The purpose is direct. Without those commitments, Siemens Healthineers could in theory design its imaging equipment to run smoothly with Varian’s linacs while making Elekta’s systems awkward to integrate, gradually pulling hospitals toward an all-Siemens setup. The merger conditions essentially wrote the old aftermarket access concerns into binding law.
Where The Rivalry Is Headed
The patent landscape between the two companies keeps moving. MRI-guided radiotherapy is one of the sharpest frontiers: Elekta’s Unity system combines a linear accelerator with an MRI scanner so clinicians can see soft tissue in real time during treatment, and Varian has pursued its own image-guided approaches. UK court filings have addressed patents covering the combination of MRI and radiotherapy, and at least one such patent was held invalid in proceedings between Varian and Elekta. Adaptive radiotherapy, where treatment plans adjust in real time based on imaging, is another area where overlapping claims are close to inevitable given how much both sides have poured into the underlying algorithms.
The 2017 settlement bought peace on the patents that existed then. It said nothing about the technologies that have come since, and Siemens Healthineers now controls a broader portfolio than Varian ever did alone. Every new advance in imaging, treatment planning, or beam delivery is a potential flashpoint on top of the interoperability regime already in place.