Dr. Harris L. Stoddard III says his Norco, California-based
company felt compelled to sue. "To protect our pets," he said, "we
were left with no alternative other than to file a patent
infringement suit against a Canadian pet insurance company,
Pethealth, and Allflex, who manufactures their incompatible
microchip products."
According to Stoddard's company, Avid Identification Systems,
Inc., Texas-based Allflex makes chip scanners and imports the chips
from overseas.
Martha Armstrong, Humane Society of the US senior vice president
for Companion Animals and Equine Protection, seems to be in support
of Stoddard. "All pets should have some form of identification on
them," she said, adding that chips beat collars and ID tags. "But
we are concerned that pet owners could have a false sense of
security."
Avid says 125 kHz microchips – the type that it makes – are
considered the standard of care in the US and have been placed in
over eight million pets across the US, resulting in 8,000 lost pets
being returned to their families each week. Using the foreign
chips, with their foreign frequency, "can be viewed as a deviation
of the accepted standard of care," according to the company.
"The US has the best system in the world," says Stoddard. But
the incompatibility between scanners and microchips means some
chipped animals entering shelters may be treated as unidentified
and destroyed or not returned to their family. "Putting lives of
our pets at risk is totally unacceptable," he said. "Especially
when compatible chips could have been offered."
"What were they thinking?" agreed Lauren Smith of Sorrento
Animal Hospital. She says the US system worked just fine. As for
the foreign one, "It's not an intelligent decision, and it's
alienating to veterinarians."
