Patent Risk Digest
August 2016
Patent Litigation Fueled by Evolution of Healthcare, Medical Technologies
Like the financial services and automotive industries, the healthcare, fitness, and medical sectors have been experiencing a dramatic transformation—increasingly incorporating mobile applications, electronic record-keeping, data security, and other technologies to create new products and improve operations and services. But while the confluence of technologies in these sectors—together referred to as healthtech or mobile health—means greater efficiency in healthcare delivery and a trove of new medical and fitness products for consumers, it also means increased patent litigation risk for businesses.
Patent trolls—entities that make a business of suing companies for patent infringement—see an explosion of opportunity in the industry’s widespread adoption of new electronic health record software, social media, and high-tech wearables such as pedometers, fitness trackers, heart rate monitors, and the like. Why? Patent trolls strategically acquire patents that may not apply to any one technology, but are broad enough to assert against many products and services that utilize any of these technologies.
Read more »A number of ongoing litigation campaigns illustrate the situation:
Presqriber LLC
Most of the healthcare and medical industry has moved from prescription pads to electronic, online medication ordering systems. In a two-year campaign, Presqriber sued 46 companies of infringing a patent titled “Interactive Medication Ordering System”.
SportBrain Holdings
SportBrain Holdings, one of the most prolific patent trolls of 2016 so far, has filed dozens of suits asserting a patent on “integrating personal data capturing functionality into a portable computing device and a wireless communication device”. The suits have targeted giants like Nike, FitBit, Seiko, and Timex; large and smaller fitness-wear outlets and retailers; and even companies that provide workplace health programs. SportBrain began its litigation campaign in 2012, but ticked up activity in 2016, suing more than 50 companies already this year.
My Health Inc.
To date, this patent troll has as sued 46 companies over remote health monitoring systems related to healthcare and fitness tracking. The most recent suits were filed in August.
St. Luke Technologies
St. Luke Technologies recently filed a second wave of suits in a campaign that has accused dozens of companies—from healthcare giant AthenaHealth to companies that make or supply software used in medical record-keeping—of infringing one or more of 10 patents related to technologies used in medical record-keeping. The suits have hit hospitals, pharmacies, managed care entities, and software makers and providers.
Uniloc USA
For five years running, Uniloc USA has waged a sweeping campaign accusing managed care providers, software companies, pharmacies, and other businesses of infringing two patents through their sales or use of electronic health record (EHR) products.
Blackbird Tech
A smaller, newer patent troll called Blackbird Tech has launched a campaign accusing companies ranging from tech giant Sony to a Wahoo Fitness—a small fitness technology company—of infringing a pedometer patent. Blackbird also owns patents on “GPS-internet linkage” and “multipurpose computer display system technology”, and it recently acquired an exercise equipment patent—a signal of its intent to pursue further litigation targeting related products.
The risk of infringement suits is constantly evolving as technologies that were devised and patented many years ago come to life in products and services just now coming to market. The healthtech market is exploding with this innovation. In the coming years, mobile medical technology will continue to grow substantially as health and medical apps become more prevalent. Companies can limit their vulnerability to patent litigation by partnering with a third party that not only understands the patent market, litigation trends, and risks in specific sectors—but that can also proactively mitigate and insure against that risk.
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