Cerner, Athenahealth Lose Bid to Nix Hospital Management Patent

Cerner Corp. and athenahealth Inc. failed to convince the Federal Circuit that a patent office tribunal should have invalidated a healthcare management system patent.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board had upheld most claims of CliniComp International Inc.'s U.S. Patent No. 6,665,647 on a system to allow independent healthcare enterprises to share access to certain applications, while maintaining sole access to their own unique healthcare systems.

Cerner and athenahealth’s appeal failed because they raised issues on appeal that they hadn’t presented to the board, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in an unsigned nonprecedential opinion. ...