MMAS Research sues Genentech, GE HealthCare and Bristol-Myers Squibb over use of the MMAS-8 adherence scale outside its Morisky Widget

The complaint

MMAS Research LLC v. Genentech, Inc., No. 2:26-cv-12403 (C.D. Cal.), was filed October 23, 2026, with Exhibits 1 to 14 attached. The complaint is signed by Marc E. Hankin of Hankin Patent Law, APC in Los Angeles, and MMAS Research demands a jury. It pleads personal jurisdiction over Bristol-Myers Squibb by consent, quoting a forum clause in their license that selects the state and federal courts in the Central District of California.

The work and the ownership history

MMAS Research, a Washington limited liability company based in Petaluma, California, says it owns the MMAS RESEARCH WIDGET CODE, called the Morisky Widget, U.S. Copyright Registration No. TX 8-816-517, registered December 3, 2019. The complaint alleges that since January 1, 2017 every MMAS-8 and MMAS-4 test has been required to be administered, scored and coded through the Morisky Widget, and that the scoring and coding criteria are trade secrets disclosed only to trained, certified licensees. It cites a March 13, 2024 unpublished Ninth Circuit memorandum in MMAS Research, LLC v. The Charite, No. 23-55202. In that memorandum the Ninth Circuit held that a 2020 preliminary settlement agreement was never finalized, so that MMAS Research "never transferred its copyright and remains the registered owner of the Morisky Widget," and it affirmed the dismissal of that suit on other grounds.

The Copyright Office record for TX 8-816-517 describes the registered material as a computer program, gives March 18, 2017 as the date of first publication, and lists two earlier registrations: TX 8-285-390 (2016), for the 4-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale text, and TX 8-632-533 (2018), for the 8-item scale text. Those two registrations name the scales' author as claimant, and an assignment executed June 8, 2023 and recorded June 16, 2023 (V15016 D624) transfers them from the author to Morisky Medication Adherence Research LLC.

What it alleges against each defendant

Genentech and GE HealthCare. The complaint alleges that in ILLUMINATE, an observational study of patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis sponsored by a Roche Group affiliate with a Belgian software developer as collaborator, Genentech, the affiliate and the developer reproduced the MMAS-8 and its scoring inside the icompanion ms application, scored it there and delivered the results to treating neurologists, with no license from MMAS Research. It alleges, on information and belief, that GE HealthCare owns and controls the developer and is liable directly and as the developer's successor. It says Genentech's counsel wrote in October 2026 that a federal court had told MMAS Research its claims were legally barred, and it identifies the decision relied on as a June 25, 2025 order of the District of Nevada. That order, in a suit by another company that alleged it owned the MMAS-4 and MMAS-8 copyrights through a 2023 assignment, held the MMAS-4 and MMAS-8 forms not copyrightable under the blank forms rule and dismissed that plaintiff's copyright claim with prejudice. The complaint alleges that MMAS Research was not a party to that case and that the order does not mention the Morisky Widget or its registration.

Bristol-Myers Squibb. The complaint says BMS signed a February 21, 2019 Morisky Widget license for its SIMPLICITY study of chronic myeloid leukemia patients, requiring every test to be scored and coded through the Morisky Widget by trained personnel, and alleges, on information and belief, that BMS and its contract research organization scored and coded the tests outside the Widget.

The counts and relief sought

The counts are breach of contract against BMS; copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. 106 and 501 against Genentech, GE HealthCare, BMS and the Does; false, removed and altered copyright management information under 17 U.S.C. 1202 against Genentech, GE HealthCare and the Does; trade secret misappropriation under 18 U.S.C. 1836 against Genentech, GE HealthCare, BMS and the Does; and declaratory relief against all defendants that MMAS Research owns the registration, that the BMS license remains in force, and that no defendant otherwise holds a license.

MMAS Research asks for actual damages and profits or statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. 504(c) and 1203(c)(3)(B), trade secret damages including exemplary damages, specific performance of the BMS license, injunctions requiring the defendants to produce item level study responses for rescoring in the Morisky Widget, notify treating clinicians and correct publications and registry records, injunctions against further use of the scales outside the Widget, impoundment, fees and interest.