Washington, DC, October 1, 2010     The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) announced today that it had settled a lawsuit against PrePaid Lab, LLC, of Avon Lake, Ohio, for copyright and trademark infringement of AACC’s Lab Tests Online®.  In its suit, AACC alleged that PrePaid Lab had copied text from more than 70 of the test descriptions found on the organization’s patient education website, Lab Tests Online (www.labtestsonline.org), and that PrePaid Lab had made improper use of the site’s trademarked name.

Lab Tests Online is a trusted, award-winning website developed by AACC in collaboration with 17 other laboratory organizations.  Since its launch in 2001, the site has helped more than 75 million people better understand their lab tests and how their doctors use them to screen for, diagnose, and treat various conditions and diseases.  As a non-commercial resource, Lab Tests Online’s primary source of funding is corporate sponsorship, with content licensing fees and user donations also supporting the site.

George Linzer, executive producer for Lab Tests Online, explained the reason for the lawsuit: “Lab Tests Online represents the work of laboratory professionals from AACC and 17 other laboratory organizations who volunteer their time to ensure that patients are getting the best information possible about laboratory testing.  We have an obligation to all those editors to protect the product of their labor and to make sure that it is not misused.”

The terms of the settlement are confidential.  For more information about Lab Tests Online or AACC, contact Peter Patterson on either of the above phone numbers or at ppatterson@aacc.org.