Teladoc Health accused one of its biggest telehealth rivals, American Well Corp., of patent infringement in a lawsuit filed Monday.
The lawsuit filed in a Delaware federal court alleges that Amwell has infringed on patents developed by InTouch Health, a telehealth company that Teladoc acquired in July.
"As a result of Amwell's infringement of the asserted patents, Teladoc has suffered and will continue to suffer damages," Teladoc's complaint reads.
Six of Amwell's products—four telehealth carts, a digital scope system and a digital stethoscope—infringe on nine patents developed by InTouch Health's founder Yulun Wang, the complaint alleges. In total, InTouch Health has a portfolio of more than 130 patents and patent applications, according to the complaint.
The nine patents Teladoc accuses Amwell of infringing upon include patents for a "portable remote presence robot" and "documentation through a remote presence robot."
Teladoc argues Amwell has had knowledge of the alleged patent infringement since at least Sept. 14, when counsel for Teladoc sent a letter notifying the company of the nine patents.
Amwell on Sept. 15 acknowledged Teladoc's letter in an amended S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"While we can provide no guarantees about the outcome of any potential dispute, we believe that these claims lack merit and, if Teladoc attempts to bring these claims to court, we intend to defend against them vigorously," Amwell's filing reads.
Revenue from Amwell's devices and technology business, which includes the products mentioned in Teladoc's lawsuit, accounted for just 5% of Amwell's 2019 revenue, according to the filing.
In a statement to Modern Healthcare, an Amwell spokesperson said the company is "in the process of reviewing the allegations." She reaffirmed that Amwell believes the claims lack merit.
A Teladoc spokesperson in a statement said that Teladoc is "confident that AmWell is infringing on the patents identified in the lawsuit."
Amwell, which is backed by Google, went public Sept. 17, closing at $23.07 its first day of public trading. The company closed Monday at $34.71; as of press time, its stock price was $34.73.
Teladoc closed Monday at $218; as of press time, its stock price was $232.34.
Teladoc in its lawsuit is seeking monetary damages from Amwell as well as for Amwell to stop the alleged infringement on its patents.
This lawsuit isn't the first time Teladoc and Amwell have been involved in a patent dispute.
In 2015, Amwell filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Teladoc in a Massachusetts federal court, alleging Teladoc used a similar method to connect patients with physicians. The lawsuit was dismissed a year later with a federal judge calling Amwell's patent invalid, after ruling aspects of the patent were too abstract.
