PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 5 The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against a board review course for physicians in internal medicine, alleging copyright infringement and theft of trade secrets by Arora Board Review, its principal Rajender K. Arora, M.D., and Anise Kachadourian, M.D. On December 7, 2009, U.S. Marshals, together with ABIM security and attorneys, seized infringing materials at the residence of Dr. Arora pursuant to a court order. On December 23, the court entered a preliminary injunction against all defendants.
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In its filing, ABIM alleges that Dr. Arora, Dr. Kachadourian and other associates illegally obtained and disseminated copyrighted test questions from ABIM Certifying Examinations for use at "board review courses" conducted for physicians by Arora. Physicians paid between $1,000 and $1,495 for these courses.
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ABIM, established in 1936, is a not-for-profit organization that enhances the quality of medical care by certifying internists and subspecialists who demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. Certification is achieved through a rigorous review of a physician's professional and educational background in addition to comprehensive examinations of relevant medical knowledge and clinical judgment.
"Our certifying examinations set the standard for internal medicine certification, and their integrity is vital to ensuring that physicians have the knowledge and skills necessary to represent themselves as Board Certified," said Christine Cassel, M.D., President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine. "ABIM is committed to aggressively protecting the integrity of this vital component of certification."
All ABIM examinations are protected by U.S. copyright law. In addition, as part of ABIM's efforts to protect the integrity of the examination, all physicians who take the exam sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose any exam content.
The preliminary injunction prohibits Arora Board Review, Dr. Arora, and Dr. Kachadourian from operating or participating in board review courses that use ABIM's copyrighted material.
About ABIM The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that grants board certification - a marker of physician quality in the United States and internationally -- to internists and subspecialists. Certification is a rigorous, comprehensive program for evaluating physician knowledge, skills and attitudes to assure both patients and payers that a physician has achieved competence for practice in a given field. Individual physician certification results may be found at www.abim.org.
SOURCE American Board of Internal Medicine
