Tripment Health asked the United States District Court of Delaware to invalidate an infringement lawsuit it is named in by MDSave Inc.
The MDSave lawsuit alleges Tripment and vendors Green Imaging and Sesame stole intellectual properties and services to create their competing websites. These rival companies all offer online healthcare marketplaces, which include partnering with radiologists and other providers to help patients find affordable rates for imaging and other healthcare services.
MDSave filed the lawsuit in Dec. 21 in the Texas district court, alleging the three companies violated its patents or trademarks.
Tripment's complaint requested a declaratory judgment against MDSave on Feb. 16. The complaint asks the court to invalidate the MDSave claims and states there was no unfair competition by misappropriation of propriety information, civil conspiracy or "tortious interference" with prospective business relations, as alleged in by MDSave.
The Tripment court filing states, "The MDSave action has the purpose and effect of preventing legitimate competition between businesses that facilitate patients’ access to important healthcare services ... MDSave brought the action in an effort to hobble its competitors, knowingly and recklessly asserting baseless accusations to tarnish the reputations of Tripment and other competitors and stymie their efforts to legitimately compete with MDSave."
The complaint goes on to state MDSave is attempting "to gain an unfair advantage in the marketplace by weaponizing patents that clearly do not cover Tripment’s business methods." The company said it hopes to prove to the court the MDSave claims are invalid
Tripment said its business model is rooted in the notion that competition in the healthcare industry benefits patients. While MDSave is a competitor of Tripment in the digital-marketplace space, there are meaningful differences in the two companies’ offerings and the way their business operate, the complaint states.
A declaratory judgment is a binding decision from a court that defines the legal relationship between parties and their rights in a matter before the court.
Read more on this case in the article: Rival sues radiologist-founded virtual imaging marketplace, alleging ‘blatant ongoing theft’ of its business.
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com