Canadian health tech company PointClickCare has filed a lawsuit on behalf of its subsidiaries Audacious Inquiry and Collective Medical Technologies against Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP) and its subsidiary CRISP Shared Services and Affiliates alleging patent infringement and unfair competition.
A PointClickCare spokesperson told MobiHealthNews that CRISP and PointClickCare's subsidiaries collaborated for years to develop Event Notification Services (ENS), a platform that provides real-time notifications to primary care providers and care teams about patient hospitalizations, patient transfers, discharges and more.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, states that CRISP and Audacious began working together in 2009 to develop the ENS technology.
At the time, the companies were also working on the state of Maryland's Health Information Exchange. Their work together wrapped up around 2012/2013, a PointClickCare spokesperson told MobiHealthNews.
CRISP allegedly had interest in the Audacious' intellectual property, including interest in patent applications, and one of CRISP's employees is an inventor on the patents, according to the PointClickCare spokesperson.
However, CRISP subsequently sold its rights to the intellectual property to Audacious in 2014 and began licensing the technology from Audacious.
By 2014, Audacious owned the patents outright, which included U.S. patent numbers 10,938,962, 11,114,194 and 12,047,475.
The plaintiffs allegedly provided certain software services to CRISP, including services related to its ENS technology, from 2014 to around 2024, and CRISP was paying a licensing fee to Audacious to use its intellectual property, according to the PointClickCare spokesperson.
In the lawsuit, Audacious alleges that in spring 2024 CRISP provided notice to Audacious that it was terminating its licensing agreement effective in fall 2024.
According to the PointClickCare spokesperson, after CRISP let its licensing agreement lapse, the company shortly thereafter released a copycat product of the ENS technology dubbed CRISP Event Notification Delivery (CEND).
Audacious alleges that CEND infringes on its patents and violates Maryland's Unfair Competition Law.
"Defendants terminated its ENS license, purportedly 'developed' and marketed its CEND product, and replaced ENS with CEND in all CSS markets all within a year," the complaint alleges.
"There is no doubt that Defendants are aware of the Asserted Patents, as they have licensed them for years. Defendants’ actions in developing and marketing CEND amount to willful patent infringement. By rightfully protecting its intellectual property, Plaintiffs are ensuring the continued and legitimate investment in innovative healthcare solutions that directly improve patient safety, care coordination and well-being."
The plaintiffs are seeking that the court declare that CRISP and CSS willfully infringed on Audacious' patents, award damages, and restrict CRISP and its subsidiaries from using the patented technology and are requesting attorney's fees.
"We have filed suit to hold CRISP and Crisp Shared Services (CSS) accountable for patent infringement and deceptive practices that undermine fair competition. After licensing our technology for a decade, CRISP and CSS launched a copycat product based on our patented innovations and intellectual property," a PointClickCare spokesperson told MobiHealthNews.
"They are now marketing this infringing product, forcing us to compete for customers against our own technology. These blatant violations of federal and state law undermine market integrity and jeopardize the very underpinnings of vital healthcare innovation.”
