Teladoc's dispute with American Well over what it claims is a vague patent has been green-lighted by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
The PTO issued a 13-page report on Sept. 14 indicating Teladoc has a "reasonable likelihood" of winning the dispute, thereby sending the issue to trial sometime next year.
This past March, Teladoc filed for a review of American Well's so-called 550 patent, which "generally relates to a system and method for receiving requests from consumers to consult with service providers and establishing a connection between consumers and service providers." The Dallas-based telehealth provider is disputing three terms in the patent, related to how telehealth doctors are selected to meet with consumers, how real-time communications are established and how certain appointments are scheduled.
[See also: Can telehealth be protected by a patent?]
Teldoc officials have argued that American Well's patent was too broad and covers "matters that are too obvious to be patented," and that Teladoc has been using some of the same concepts long before American Well was launched.
"As the pioneer and leader in telehealth, Teladoc has the responsibility to protect consumers' access to health innovations like telehealth," Jason Gorevic, Teladoc's CEO, said in a press release following the PTO's ruling. "We're proud to stand up for telehealth and can't allow those who would suppress competition to take away access to the benefits of a safe, convenient and affordable health care option. We are pleased that the PTO has acknowledged the strength of our petition and its likelihood of success."
American Well President and co-CEO Roy Schoenberg issued a statement regarding the TPO's decision.
"Understandably, Teladoc has its back against the wall," he said. "The company operates a phone-a-doctor service and is now required by state and federal regulation to pivot into live video doctor visits, where you can see the doctor. This has been our field of operation for almost a decade and where we hold 26 patents granted to us by the U.S. patent office. We understand that Teladoc needs to contest our patents and welcome the patent review, which we never opposed. To be clear – American Well holds the patents and Teladoc is asking for their review. There is no news here."
[See also: Teladoc sues Texas board over telemedicine rules]
Following Teladoc's March suit, Boston-based American Well fired back at Teladoc in June, filing a 10-page patent infringement charge against its rival in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
"Teladoc has infringed American Well's intellectual property," American Well Chairman and co-CEO Ido Schoenberg said in a press release. "While a transparent and competitive landscape is an imperative for innovation, Teladoc has unfairly disregarded American Well's ownership rights to advance its business. We developed and patented these innovations and we owe it to our clients, partners and shareholders to protect them."
The 550 patent - among the 26 obtained by American Well, with another 25 pending - is titled "Connecting consumers with service providers." It describes "a data repository that stores information pertaining to medical service providers, including present availability of the medical service providers for participating in a consultation; receiving in a computer, indications that members of a pool of medical service providers have become presently available; receiving in the computer, a request from a consumer of services to consult with a medical provider; identifying in the computer, an available member of the pool; and establishing a real-time communication channel between the consumer of the services and the identified member of the pool."
In its lawsuit, American Well charged that Teladoc's "enterprise data store" is identical to American Well's data repository, and that Teladoc also monitors "providers' capacity" and uses a system that "manages custom visit queues that automatically and instantly route available visits to appropriate providers based upon proprietary algorithms." The lawsuit also states that Teladoc's system "dynamically and efficiently matches consumer demand and physician availability in real time" and that it allows a consumer and provider to "conduct a visit (via video or phone.)"
