GAIN FROM LEGAL SETTLEMENT

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

GAIN FROM LEGAL SETTLEMENT [Abstract]

GAIN FROM LEGAL SETTLEMENT

NOTE 13. GAIN FROM LEGAL SETTLEMENT

On March 3, 2011, we entered into a settlement agreement related to the legal action with Salient Surgical Technologies, Inc. and Medtronic, Inc. The settlement called for us and related parties to immediately exit and not enter into the monopolar and bipolar saline-enhanced RF device business (including SEER™ and BOSS™) worldwide through February 2015. In exchange, Salient made a one-time payment to us of $750,000. As a condition, we will not be able to sell certain finished products, which as of the settlement date amounted to approximately $100,000 of our inventory.  We reserved for approximately $87,000 of our inventory related to the products in this settlement in the first quarter of 2011. The terms also include a provision outlining a possible OEM contract manufacturing relationship between Salient and our Company. We currently have a longstanding OEM contract manufacturing agreement with Medtronic for advanced electrosurgical generators. We have given Medtronic notice that the agreement terminated as of December 31, 2011, with final deliveries occurring in 2012. We will continue to service the generators sold during this contract for the next five years. We anticipate sales of accessories and spare parts to continue into the future.