Online Health Records Company Sues WebMD for Patent Infringement

Los Angeles – MyMedicalRecords Inc. filed a lawsuit in California federal court against the health information company WebMD Health Corp., claiming that WebMD has created an online portal for patient records that infringes one of its patents.

The online health records provider claimed that WebMD launched its new patient’s records portal after talks regarding MyMedicalRecords assisting WebMD revamp its old portal fell through.  It also claimed that the new portal infringes its patent that covers technology that allows patients to securely access personal health files stored remotely.

MyMedicalRecords filed the lawsuit on Monday in the Central District of California in Los Angeles and Judge Christina A. Snyder will hear the case.

MyMedicalRecords is a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based MMRGlocal Inc.  Its website allows users to store all of their medical information securely online and allows them to access and add to the records from anywhere.  The company also offers other methods for securely storing medical records and has seven patents to protect the technology.

WebMD provides health information to the general public, health care providers and health plans through both public and private portals.  The New York-based company approached MyMedicalRecords in May 2007 requesting assistance in developing a secure patient information portal, according to the complaint.

At the time, WebMD’s patient portal only allowed users to enter personal information, which could be compared against a database to give the user an assessment of his or her health.  WebMD admitted to MyMedicalRecords that its portal was limited and sought its advice on improving the portal, as WebMD wanted to have a system similar to MyMedicalRecords’ system.

The companies signed nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements and began talks.  According to MyMedicalRecords, WebMD halted the talks a few months later and then began altering its portal to include features of MyMedicalRecords portal.

According to the complaint, WebMD’s current portal allows users to integrate different forms of health information from various sources and store those records securely, which MyMedicalRecords claims directly infringes its patent.

MyMedicalRecords is seeking a judgment declaring that WebMD has willfully infringed its patent and an injunction forcing WebMD to cease infringing the patent in addition to damages, treble damages, interest, costs and attorney’s fees.