MMR Global sues Walgreens for patent infringement

MyMedicalRecords, Inc. a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based MMR Global, has sued drugstore giant Walgreens for patent infringement pertaining to its personal health record patent. Its lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that its patent is "built on proprietary, patented technologies" and claims that Walgreens has infringed on the patent by "making, using, offering for sale and/or selling" its methods and systems.

MMR has sued Walgreens for both damages and a permanent injunction.

The company appears to be vigorously defending its patents against possible infringers, stating in an announcement about the lawsuit that it is "pursuing efforts to monetize its patent portfolio and other IP by investigating potential infringement of MMR's patents by entities such as retail pharmacies, EHR and PHR vendors, laboratory systems, hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare professionals."

MMR announced Feb. 5 that it also is investigating possible infringement of its patent in Australia.

MMR now has contacted and offered licenses on its patents to more than 1,000 hospitals, group practices and others, and has signed license agreements valued at more than $30 million.

As the electronic health record industry matures, it is likely that more health IT patent disputes will end up in litigation. McKesson sued Epic last summer for patent infringement relating to McKesson's MyChart communications program between patients and providers. And in December, HealthTrio sued Aetna for patent infringement related to its computer systems.

To learn more:
- read the announcement
- here's the lawsuit (.pdf)
- read the announcement about the Australian infringement