Medtech alleges copyright infringement by indici developers

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Medtech has been granted a preservation order against Valentia Technologies in order to investigate allegations of copyright infringement and data breaches.

Valentia Technologies says it will “vigorously defend” the claims, which managing director Ahmad Javad says are “completely without merit”.

He says the company is filing an application to rescind ‘without notice’ the orders made in Valentia’s absence by the High Court, but in the meantime will respect the legal process and abide by the interim Preservation Order issued.

The High Court order requires Valentia Technologies (developer of indici) to preserve all source code, databases and content relating to the software it uses to manage and extract data from patients’ medical records.

A statement from Medtech says this will allow investigation into whether the code and database structure of the indici PMS infringes Medtech’s intellectual property rights.

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Medtech and Valentia are both suppliers of patient management systems to New Zealand GPs and Medtech is alleging that Valentia is extracting its proprietary material using a software tool called SEHR (Shared Electronic Health Record).

SEHR is authorised by some Primary Health Organisations and former District Health Boards to extract selected categories of data from patient records in the PMS and feed it into a central database, so it can be used when caring for patients across practices.

Medtech is concerned that Valentia’s SEHR Hook is extracting more patient information than it is entitled to and that Valentia has been able to access confidential information, allowing it to copy Medtech’s data sets, database structures, codes and other proprietary material.

The company also alleges that Valentia is incorrectly transferring data records, creating a potential safety risk for patients, specifically in relation to historical medication and allergy records.

eHealthNews reported in January 2019 that the two PMS providers were locked in a legal dispute over a similar issue regarding copyright infringement.

Valentia Technologies says those allegations were eventually withdrawn without any wrongdoing or liability against Valentia being established, or any payments being made on or behalf of the company.

“We believe the current claims, much like the earlier ones, are without merit and will be unsuccessful,” says Javad.

“Our competitor has presented a narrative that incorrectly and unjustly suggests risks to patient health and safety resulting from the way we manage data. We firmly reject these allegations. Patient safety and data integrity are paramount in all our technological processes and innovations.

“As our share of the New Zealand PMS market continues to rapidly grow, we understand that competition in the industry can be challenging. Valentia Technologies maintains a steadfast commitment to fair and ethical competition.”

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