AEGiS-WSJ: Bitter Patent Dispute Spills Onto Internet, And Makes a Mess

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Bitter Patent Dispute Spills Onto Internet, And Makes a Mess

The Wall Street Journal - March 17, 1999
Andrew Fraser, The Wall Street Journal

A patent dispute between two small Florida biotech firms has spawned a nasty battle on the Internet, with executives lobbing charges in message boards of theft of intellectual property and other misdeeds.

Technical Chemical & Products Inc. of Pompano Beach and Americare Health Scan Inc. of Miami have been locked in a court battle over technologies behind a saliva test for HIV and a skin patch to help diabetics check their glucose. In December, a Broward County state court ruled in favor of Americare in a trade-secrets lawsuit over the HIV test, but TCPI is appealing that verdict. An Americare patent claim involving the skin patch is pending in federal court.

Meanwhile, the Internet battle rages on. In the past year, there have been an average of 100 postings a month on this topic on the Yahoo discussion board. The anonymous postings by partisans of the two companies include insults, physical threats and charges of stock manipulation. Both firms have subpoenaed Yahoo! Inc. for the identities of the message posters.

Recently, Howard Goldman, vice president of investor relations at TCPI, joined the fray. In a signed Feb. 12 posting on Yahoo, he disclosed run-ins that Americare CEO Joseph D'Angelo had with the Securities and Exchange Commission decades ago at a different company. Mr. D'Angelo says he settled those cases without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

Such pointed attacks on the Internet aren't uncommon. But it is unusual for company executives themselves to get involved in such online mudslinging.

"It's not something I would advise," says Louis M. Thompson, president of the National Investor Relations Institute, an industry group in Vienna, Va. "I can understand the pressures that small-cap companies feel when a chat-room rumor is pounding the daylights out of their stock. But once they get to responding, it can wrap them around the ankle."

Mr. Goldman's message said he only wanted to clarify "misinformation and inaccuracies" on the board.

Mr. D'Angelo says he has turned over Mr. Goldman's posting to his lawyer and is trying to trace other negative Internet comments for a possible defamation case.

To be sure, TCPI says postings it traced last year to Mr. D'Angelo through a subpoena to AOL were just as harsh. The messages, posted under the aliases Docd76 and lounay, alleged that TCPI and its CEO, Jack Aronowitz, stole Americare technology. Last year, TCPI sued Mr. D'Angelo in a Miami federal court, alleging libel and slander. In an interview, Mr. D'Angelo admits posting messages on AOL using the aliases and making the accusations. "I was upset, and I said he stole my technology," he says. The case is pending.
990317
WJ990301

AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, Elton John AIDS Foundation UK, the National Library of Medicine, AIDS Walk of Orange County, and donations from users like you.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1999. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1999. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .