LOS ANGELES, CA and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - Mar 11, 2013) - Guy Sebastian, one of Australia's most well-known recording artists, today commented on a recent story in "The Australian" (www.mmrglobal.com/au) concerning the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), which has refused to respond to numerous requests from U.S. lawyers representing MMRGlobal, Inc. (
"As a recording artist I understand the importance of being able to protect my Intellectual Property from being pirated around the world. What kind of an example do we set when our government ignores Intellectual Property, including a company's patents already on file in 13 other countries," said Sebastian.
On February 5, 2013, MMR announced that it had been brought to the Company's attention that governments, both state and federal, in Australia appear to be infringing on patents (including Australian patent numbers 2006202057 and 2008202401) and other Intellectual Property issued to MyMedicalRecords.com, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of MMRGlobal.
Sebastian was planning on working with MMR to call attention to the importance of having a Personal Health Record with the understanding that MMR would contribute a portion of its Australian revenues directly to the Sebastian charity or any other charity specified by Sebastian. The monies would be utilized for the benefit of a charitable foundation currently being formed to benefit struggling families in Australia and other countries around the world, including India. Designated charities also would include The Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, the International Red Cross, and World Vision Australia, two of which Sebastian represents as an Ambassador.
According to Robert H. Lorsch, MMRGlobal CEO, "Working with management for Guy Sebastian, our plan was to leverage the awareness of the importance of global healthcare reform and our patents and other Intellectual Property in 13 countries. The result was to create a cause-related awareness program that would ultimately bring artists together to help those less fortunate through using a small portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on health information technology around the world. The MMR products and services would have included the Company's MyMedicalRecords PHR, as well as a version of MMR's MyEsafeDepositBox as an emergency preparedness tool, which would benefit the Red Cross."
According to the story in "The Australian" published on March 5, 2013, "The National E-Health Transition Authority has been accused of dragging its feet as a US firm tries to conclude its investigation into alleged patent infringements by the agency. Early last month, MyMedicalRecords.com, a subsidiary of MMRGlobal, had claimed that 'both state and federal governments in Australia, through NEHTA, appear to be infringing on patents and other intellectual property issued to MyMedicalRecords.com.' MMRGlobal chief executive Robert Lorsch previously said the probe should be completed no later than the end of last month. But it has been stymied by what Mr. Lorsch described as a lack of co-operation by NEHTA, whom he claims has remained silent."
NEHTA has reportedly spent an estimated one billion Australian dollars on a Personal Health Records program which is the subject of the potential infringement and which appears to broadly incorporate numerous portions of the MMR IP. MMRGlobal has an extensive healthcare IT patent portfolio, which includes seven U.S. patents: Nos. 8,301,466; 8,352,287; 8,352,288; 8,121,855; 8,117,646; 8,117,045; and 8,321,240. The MMR Patent Portfolio includes nearly 400 claims as well as additional applications and continuation applications. The patents involve inventions pertaining to Personal Health Records, Patient Portals and other Electronic Health Record systems. In addition to Australia, MMR has been granted patents and has other pending applications in countries of commercial interest including Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel, and European nations.
About Guy Sebastian
Guy Sebastian is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. Since 2010 he has been a judge on Australia's The X Factor. Sebastian has released seven top ten albums, with six reaching the top five, including two, which peaked at number one. They have all achieved either platinum or multi-platinum certification. He has also released 11 top ten singles, including six number ones, and three other top 15 singles. Sebastian is the only Australian male artist in Australian chart history to achieve six number one singles, and he is third overall for all Australian acts. Six of his singles gained multi-platinum certification. Sebastian has received 17 ARIA Awards nominations, including Single of the Year, Best Male Artist and Best Pop Release, and winning Highest Selling Single ARIA Awards. He has a strong commitment to charity, and is currently an ambassador for World Vision Australia, Golden Stave and the Australian Red Cross
About MMRGlobal
MMRGlobal, Inc., through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., provides secure and easy-to-use online Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and electronic safe deposit box storage solutions, serving consumers, healthcare professionals, employers, insurance companies, financial institutions, retail pharmacies, and professional organizations and affinity groups. The MyMedicalRecords PHR enables individuals and families to access their medical records and other important documents, such as birth certificates, passports, insurance policies and wills, anytime from anywhere using the Internet. MyMedicalRecords is built on proprietary, patented technologies to allow documents, images and voicemail messages to be transmitted and stored in the system using a variety of methods, including fax, phone, or file upload without relying on any specific electronic medical record platform to populate a user's account. The Company's professional offering, MMRPro, is designed to give physicians' offices an easy and cost-effective solution to digitizing paper-based medical records and sharing them with patients in real time through an integrated patient portal. Through its merger with Favrille, Inc. in January 2009, the Company acquired intellectual property biotech assets that include anti-CD20 antibodies and data and samples from its FavId™/Specifid™ vaccine clinical trials for the treatment of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To learn more about MMRGlobal, Inc. visit www.mmrglobal.com. View demos and video tutorials of the Company's products and services at www.mmrtheater.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature, whether or not such statement relates to the Company's investigations surrounding its patents in Australia, and including, without limitation, future performance, management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, estimates or projections, constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, including those surrounding the Company's having not yet completed its investigation and determination of whether or not infringement exists in Australia, and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some can be identified by the use of words (and their derivations) such as "need," "possibility," "potential," "intend," "offer," "development," "if," "negotiate," "appear," "when," "begun," "believe," "achieve," "will," "estimate," "expect," "maintain," "plan," and "continue," or the negative of these words. Actual outcomes and results of operations and the timing of selected events may differ materially from the results predicted, and any reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Such statements are necessarily based on assumptions and estimates and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the possible invalidity of the underlying assumptions and estimates and possible changes or developments in economic, business, industry, market, legal and regulatory circumstances and conditions and actions taken or omitted to be taken by third parties, including customers, suppliers, business partners, potential licensees, competitors, charitable organizations, and legislative, judicial and other governmental authorities and officials. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: unexpected outcomes with respect to intellectual property investigation and enforcement actions, claims of intellectual property infringement and general intellectual property litigation in the U.S. and internationally; our ability to maintain, develop, monetize and protect our patent portfolio for both the Company's health IT and biotechnology intellectual property assets; the timing of milestone payments in connection with licensing our intellectual property; the risk the Company's products are not adopted or viewed favorably by the healthcare community and consumer retail market; business prospects, results of operations or financial condition; risks related to the current uncertainty and instability in financial and lending markets, including global economic uncertainties; future changes in tax legislation and initiatives in the healthcare industry; undetected errors in our products; the possibility of interruption at our data centers; risks associated with recruitment and retention of key personnel; other litigation matters; uncertainties associated with doing business internationally across borders and territories; and additional risks discussed in the Company's filings with the SEC. The Company is providing this information as of the date of this release and, except as required by applicable law, does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact Information:
CONTACTS:
For Guy Sebastian:
Titus Day
Managing Director
6 Degrees Management
Office: 02 9344 2005
Cell: 0488 500 606
Email: titus@6degreesmanagement.com.au
For MMRGlobal:
Michael Selsman
Public Communications Co.
310-922-7033
Email: ms@publiccommunications.biz