The last two holdouts were healthcare information management tool providers McKesson and Cerner. Res-Q Healthcare Systems and Picis had settled in June, Siemens Medical Solutions USA caved in May, while Surgical Information Systems was presciently yielding in February.

The companies were sued in the Eastern District of Texas by Resource Scheduling Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Acacia Technologies. GE Healthcare took a license to '743 without having to answer the Texas litigation cattle call.

Acacia has accumulated an impressive track record of patent acquisition in a wide variety of technologies, and subsequent enforcement, since starting to represent individual inventors in 2001. Acacia generally negotiates licenses without resorting to litigation until stiffed.