Court Invalidates Invisalign Patents

A federal appeals court in Washington D.C. on Wednesday invalidated patents covering Align Technology Inc.’s Invisalign tooth-straightening system, according to the Associated Press.
   The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against Align in a patent infringement fight with Orange, CA-based Ormco Corp., maker of a rival product.
    Santa Clara, CA-based Align argued that the commercial success of its wire-free Invisalign system proved it was a step forward from prior techniques pioneered by dentists who used a succession of retainers or plastic retainers to re-shape smiles.
   The court disagreed, reversing a lower federal court decision that said the Invisalign patents were valid.
   Lawyers and spokeswomen for Align weren’t immediately available to comment on Wednesday’s decision.
   Ormco President Don Tuttle and his attorneys couldn’t be reached for comment.
   In July, Align announced that its Invisalign patents had survived a second round of scrutiny by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
   At the instigation of a unnamed entity, patent regulators took another look at the patents, as well as some new claimed novelties. One entire patent and most of the other came through the Patent and Trademark Office re-examination intact, the company said.
   In a press release, Align said patent officials had weighed “prior art,” or evidence that others had arrived first at similar methods of straightening teeth without wires and brackets. The Patent Office confirmed the validity of the patents anyway, the company said.