The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) has filed suit against Dr. Gloria Johnson-Powell, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS), alleging she falsely claimed to be board-certified in the specialty of psychiatry.
The board is charging Johnson-Powell with trademark infringement, according to Christopher Sullivan, attorney for the ABPN.
The board contacted Johnson-Powell in November 1995 after hearing that she was claiming board certification.
Johnson-Powell responded that "a clerical error had caused the inadvertent inclusion of a certification number on her resume and that she had remedied the error," according to court papers.
The suit was filed in December 1996 and went to the U.S. District Court level, where the ABPN tried to prevent Johnson-Powell from claiming board certification while the case is pending.
The attempt failed, and the ABPN brought the suit to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The appellate court ruled in the same manner and did not grant the injunction, citing an affidavit Johnson-Powell signed stating she has "no intention to and will not represent [herself] as being certified," according to The Boston Globe.
Yet, as reported in The Globe, the appellate court found that "the evidence of past infringement is very strong. The district court itself remarked that the evidence of Dr. Johnson-Powell's past infringement was `so strong as to be perhaps undeniable.'"
The appellate court, according to The Globe, went on to say that "[t]he district court also thought her affidavit was `probably not true,' apparently in respect to the claimed inadvertence of the error Board certification in the field of psychiatrymeans that specialists have met the ABPN'sstandards. Sullivan said the process for obtaining boardcertification includes a medical internship at anaccredited institution, a proctored test, an oraltest of clinical diagnosis and a background check. "The board's position has been to protect ourtrademark uniformly and consistently," Sullivansaid. In the past, Sullivan said, there have beentrademark infringement issues, and "we [the ABPN]have taken appropriate action." Johnson-Powell practices at the Judge BakerChildren's Center in Boston and is the author ofseveral books. She was appointed to a task forcereviewing the Clinton administration's health careover-haul. She was also the first black female professortenured at HMS. Alice E. Richmond, the attorney representingJohnson-Powell, said ABPN officials have been"very aggressive in their wish to destroy[Johnson-Powell]," and mentioned sexism as apossible motive in the ABPN suit, according to TheGlobe. A pre-trial conference will be held on March 9in the U.S. District Court in Boston. Johnson-Powell and ABPN officials refused tocomment. Richmond could not be reached yesterday
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