Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
January 27, 2014 at 08:30 AM
The Obama administration’s top trial lawyer wants to help a managed care company do battle with a firm that once sued it over allegations of patent infringement.
The U.S. Supreme Court has given Donald Verrilli Jr., the solicitor general of the United States, permission to appear at oral arguments and speak on behalf of Highmark Inc.
Highmark — the holder of the Blue Shield license in central Pennsylvania, and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licenses in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware — is trying to get Allcare Health Management Systems Inc. to pay $4.9 million in attorney’s fees and other legal costs.
Allcare owns U.S. Patent Number 5,301,105. The patent, filed in April 1991, covers methods a managed care company uses to decide whether review of a patient’s use of medical services is necessary and whether a recommended treatment is appropriate. The patent also covers efforts to prevent authorization and payment before a reviewer has approved care.
Allcare sued Highmark over alleged infringement of the patent in April 2002.
Highmark won the legal battle, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court ruling.
