M·CAM | Patently Obvious® Report on Align Technology, Inc.
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January 13, 2014 In News Archive

Patently Obvious® Report on Align Technology, Inc.

Date:  Mon, 2014-01-13

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – M·CAM, Inc. released a Patently Obvious® on Align Technology, Inc.

Align is an aggressive defender of its market share and routinely uses litigation to attempt to force competitors out of the clear aligner market. In 2005, it sued OrthoClear, Inc. in the Northern District of California and in the Superior Court of San Francisco for patent and trademark infringement, among other things, and ultimately settled out of court with OrthoClear agreeing to end all US operations and Align paying $20 million for its IP. In 2011, Align brought another infringement suit against Ortho Caps GmbH and Rasteder KFO Spezial-Labor GmbH in Germany and won a permanent injunction.

In contrast, Align has had notable setbacks in court in the United States. After a jury found in 2009 that Align infringed Danaher Corporation subsidiary Ormco’s intellectual property , and a judge invalidated claims from several of Align’s patents, Align and Danaher reached a settlement. Danaher took a 10% equity holding in Align and a cash payment of $13 million, for a total value of the settlement at that time of $90 million. The two companies agreed to exclusively collaborate over the next seven years. That collaboration was problematic and in November, 2013 Danaher sold over half of its shares in Align.

In 2009, ClearCorrect, LLC, an Align competitor, sought a declaration of non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability related to certain Align intellectual properties. ClearCorrect submitted a motion to dismiss once Align agreed not to sue ClearCorrect for patent infringement. Despite that agreement, Align filed two complaints against ClearCorrect in 2011. Align alleged that ClearCorrect was infringing US 6,471,511; US 6,217,325; US 5,975,893; US 6,705,863; US 6,722,880; US 7,125,248; US 7,134,874; and US 7,578,674 in a complaint filed in the Southern District of Texas, and filed a complaint for unlawful business practices in the Superior Court of San Francisco, asserting that ClearCorrect was not charging enough for its product. In 2012, Align filed two complaints against ClearCorrect with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

The full M·CAM Patently Obvious® on Align Technology, Inc. can be found HERE.

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