AI cardiac imaging company Heartflow is accusing rival Elucid of infringing four of its patents and misappropriating trade secrets to build a competing CT-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR) product.
In a complaint filed October 22 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Heartflow alleges that Elucid hired 11 of its employees who had knowledge of Heartflow’s product design, patents, regulatory submissions, commercialization plans, and customer lists, law360.com reported. Other senior staff who left for Elucid took information such as physician and hospital account lists, according to the complaint.
The suit targets Elucid FFR-IQ, which recently received marketing authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Heartflow said. The patents at issue are U.S. Patent Nos. 9,754,082; 10,010,255; 9,770,303; and 9,070,214, according to Bloomberg Law.
Elucid said in a statement that it is aware of the lawsuit and is reviewing the allegations, and that it will respond through the appropriate legal channels.
The complaint comes months after Heartflow filed a similar suit over different patents against another competitor, Cleerly, in Texas federal court. That suit alleged that Cleerly was founded by a former Heartflow consultant who had access to Heartflow’s technology, trade secrets, and confidential business information.
