Opternative refraction test
Opternative, a Chicago company that developed an online test for determining eyeglass prescriptions, has filed a lawsuit against eyewear retailer Warby Parker in the U.S. District Court in New York. The complaint alleges that Warby violated non disclosure agreements and trade secrets so the retailer could develop a rival eye exam app, Prescription Check.
Opternative, which got its start in 2013, was exploring a partnership with Warby Parker and provided access to proprietary information regarding its online refraction eye exam to streamline the task of prescribing eyewear. Consumers take Opternative’s exam online, ophthalmologists assess the results and prescribe glasses and contact lenses accordingly.
The complaint maintains that Warby Parker filed a patent for its own online eye testing technology in June 2015 derived from Opternative’s confidential information, as the lawsuit notes:
Warby Parker misappropriated Opternative’s trade secrets in contravention of New York common law by willfully and deliberately procuring Opternative’s trade secrets under false pretenses, and then making unauthorized use and disclosure of the information in breach of the confidence placed in Warby Parker by Opternative, for Warby Parker’s own advantage, and to the substantial detriment of Opternative.
The complaint accuses Warby Parker of breach of contract, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and correction of inventorship. It also calls for Warby to correct the patent it filed for its app to include Opternative Cofounder and Chief Science Officer Dr. Steven Lee as the sole inventor or at least name Lee as a joint inventor.
“We have spent countless hours, days, weeks and years pouring our hearts and minds into building Opternative’s intellectual property and making ocular telehealth accessible to more people,” said Lee, in an emailed comment on the lawsuit. “It is a huge disappointment that another company, which was in the startup category like us not too long ago, would take advantage of us for their own financial gain.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
For its part, Warby Parker denied the allegations in a statement to TechCrunch.
Part of the statement read:
The preposterous claims made by Opternative do not accurately reflect reality, and we’re prepared to take all necessary steps to defeat them. This is an unfortunate example of a company choosing to address competition with litigation instead of innovation.
