Last summer, Dr. Peter Elkin bid farewell to his longtime employer, the Mayo Clinic, and headed off to the prestigious Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, where a new job awaited.

He seemed to part on friendly terms. During his 12-year stint at Mayo, the nationally known physician developed software that could revolutionize medical record-keeping and billing, while helping spot disease outbreaks possibly related to terrorist acts or emerging infectious illnesses.

The technology could prove to be a commercial blockbuster, especially since computerized medical records are a key part of the Obama administration's health care reform plan.

But since last summer, the relationship between Mayo and Elkin has soured into a contentious legal battle in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, with the Mayo Foundation for Medical Research & Education and Elkin suing each other.

The dispute shows how prickly it can be for an institution like Mayo to commercialize the inventions of its staff, when potentially lucrative research partnerships between inventors and business partners break down into acrimonious disputes.

Dueling lawsuits

Mayo fired the first salvo in January, with a lawsuit claiming Elkin tried to undermine commercialization of the software from the very beginning.

Mayo's complaint hints at betrayal, calling Elkin a "once-trusted, high-level researcher and clinician" whose behavior is "recalcitrant."

Mayo alleges breach of contract and fiduciary duty and trade secret misappropriation, among other claims.

Three weeks later, Elkin filed a countersuit, claiming Mayo reaped millions from his technology but never paid him royalties. He further charges that Mayo attempted to quash his research once he left for MountSinai by threatening civil and criminal sanctions if he discussed the software publicly.

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