Black-owned firm fighting Kaiser for 5 years now over patent infringement, sues it for $50M

George McKinney is the black entrepreneur behind ViQUAL Medical Know-how LLC. Within the final 5 years, the corporate has been concerned in a authorized tussle with medical big Kaiser Permanente involving the expertise of certainly one of its sister corporations, Higher Life Applied sciences Group. ViQUAL Medical was created to be a medical system division of Higher Life Applied sciences Group, Inc.

Higher Life Applied sciences Group is a expertise firm specializing in wi-fi wearable applied sciences. Its issued patent US 8,659,432 B2 covers human monitoring in aquatic environments and affected person monitoring functions in hospitals and houses.

Higher Life sued Kaiser Permanente for $50 million in 2018, claiming the corporate stole its commerce secrets and techniques on wearable medical units and shared them with its opponents. The corporate believes the leak of its commerce secrets and techniques might have contributed to the delivery of a $30 billion trade which focuses on wireless-wearable wellness communications between physicians and sufferers, Model Journal reported.

“The theft of African American music, concepts, actual property, and mental property has been built-in into American tradition for years,” McKinney just lately famous in a remark, in response to Black Information. “What number of instances have we heard concerning the Black man or lady who has an ideal concept, one thing particular, however after disclosing it, has discovered that the thought now belongs to another person?

“Our historical past is replete with improvements, applied sciences, and patentable concepts that by no means noticed the sunshine of day as a result of they have been stolen. African American cities have been bombed due to racial prejudice. Bear in mind Black Wall Avenue and the devastation that passed off as a result of some people didn’t need fairness, they wished to really feel and be superior.”

In a courtroom doc, Higher Life Applied sciences Group claims that Kaiser developed wearable medical units with different corporations after signing a nondisclosure settlement with Higher Life in 2012.

“On or about late 2016, plaintiff found that defendant had used plaintiff’s proprietary commerce secrets and techniques to enter into enterprise relationships with plaintiff’s opponents and had derived revenue from offering plaintiff’s commerce secrets and techniques to plaintiff’s opponents and different unauthorized recipients,” the lawsuit states.

Based on the agency, the commerce secrets and techniques concerned “a patent for expertise for a wi-fi wearable system designed for sufferers affected by diabetes, coronary heart circumstances, and different medical circumstances which require monitoring.”

Higher Life stated its representatives began speaking to Kaiser C-level Officers between 2011 and 2012. They held a number of conferences concerning their revolutionary Doctor-to-patient wireless-wearable communication applied sciences.

Kaiser subsequently signed a Non-Compete Non-Disclosure settlement with Higher Life’s sister firm ViQUAL Medical promising to not share Higher Life’s disclosed mental property and commerce secrets and techniques.

McKinney and his co-founders have claimed that their revolutionary applied sciences have been built-in into the healthcare utility of IOT, stressing that Kaiser’s breach of contract has disadvantaged ViQUAL Medical of lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in revenues.

McKinney stated in an announcement to Black Information that “the wrestle has been troublesome as a result of Kaiser has used underhanded ways which have extended the case to power an organization underneath duress to signal a walk-away settlement based mostly upon fabrication and deception.”