This appeared a little while ago.
MMRGlobal Says It Will Refile Patent Lawsuit Against WebMD
Following a February filing of a patent infringement lawsuit by MMRGlobal against WebMD (NASDAQ: WBMD) , the two sides agreed in June to try and resolve the matter outside of the courtroom. However, MMR said today that after investing a total of "nearly eight months in good faith negotiations with WebMD," it has decided to refile the suit.
The original suit alleged that WebMD infringed on MMR patents involving its personal health record (PHR) and related technologies. MMR said it has since received another patent it claims WebMD may be infringing upon, and intends to include it in the soon-to-be refiled lawsuit.
MMRGlobal said in its press release that "the door will always be open to a fair negotiated resolution."
More here:
There is also coverage here:
MMRGlobal To Refile Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against WebMD
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
On Tuesday, MMRGlobal announced that it will refile a lawsuit alleging that WebMD infringed on MMRGlobal patents for personal health records and other technology products, the Motley Fool reports.
Background
MMRGlobal originally filed suit against WebMD in February.
In June, both sides agreed to resolve the issue outside of the court system.
…..
WebMD's Response
In response to MMRGlobal's announcement about its plans to refile the lawsuit, WebMD said it "believe[s] the plaintiff's claims are without merit."
The company said it will "vigorously defend" against the claims of infringement (Motley Fool, 9/3).
Full article here:
All I can say is that I hope NEHTA has told these pests to simply go away. They are just a blight on the landscape that I note the US Government is now working to tighten things up to make this sort of behaviour much harder.
For an Australian perspective there is a useful podcast from a week or so ago.
Patents are only inventive sometimes
Sunday 25 August 2013 7:45AM
According to Dr Hazel Moir from the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University, most of the time innovations covered by patents are not really very inventive at all. In her book Patent Policy and Innovation Dr Moir attacks the patent system. She recommends that policy makers have a look at the quantum of new knowledge that ought to be required to make an invention worthy of protection.
See here for the audio
This is a problem that really needs to be sorted.
David.
This will be watch and see. If MMR wins then NEHTA will be under the gun.
ReplyDeleteAnother point to make is that they may be seen as a patent troll, but they have not acted outside the law.
The problem is in these situations is that it is up to the other side to prove their position, not the other way around.
Interesting time ahead and great for a new Minister to deal with...Where's Tania??
As I said in the blog..the law that allows this is probably wrong...
ReplyDeleteDavid.
IP Aust should become proactive and file against MMR citing the wealth of "prior art" in publicly funded and published standards that go back many years. Why shouldn't the tax-payer also receive some protection from the bodies funded to manage IP protection?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete"IP Aust should become proactive and file against MMR citing the wealth of "prior art" in publicly funded and published standards that go back many years. "
That's not in their organisational brief - all they are permitted to do by IP legislation is process applications for patents, maintain registers and DECIDE on disputed matters. They can't initiate a dispute, it has to come from the patent holder.