I wonder if the employees in charge of looking for new investments at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) are salivating right now? They've got another $716 million to spend at their leisure.

Yesterday, the company announced that it had settled some of its long-standing lawsuits with Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) over patents Johnson & Johnson has on heart stents, which are used to keep clogged blood vessels open. The settlement covers four patent families covering everything from drug-eluting stents to the material of the balloons that doctors use to put the stents in place. A whopping 14 lawsuits have been put to bed.

Even with its wide breadth, the settlement doesn't cover all of the pending lawsuits between the adversaries. Johnson & Johnson still has two pending lawsuits against Boston Scientific, and there's one lawsuit that goes the other direction.

Boston Scientific already had money set aside in a litigation reserve, so it won't have any problem paying the bill. Johnson & Johnson will take the cash as a one-time special item in the fourth quarter.

The money will make up for the market share that Johnson & Johnson has lost to newcomers in the U.S. drug-eluting stent arena: Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT) and Medtronic (NYSE:MDT). But it's certainly no long-term fix. To get back into the game, Johnson & Johnson will need some strong data from its new stent, Nevo, which is being tested head to head now against Boston Scientific's Taxus Liberte.

While you wait for the data, Johnson & Johnson, do enjoy your shopping trip.