HAMM, Germany, January 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Ortho Caps GmbH, a German dental product company that makes and sells orthodontic aligners, is challenging Align Technology´s European patents, after Align Technology Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Ortho Caps on December 21, 2011 in the District Court of Dusseldorf. If Ortho Caps is successful, Align Technology´s European Patents EP2263599B1, EP2263598B1 and EP1143872B1 could be revoked by the European Patent Office (EPO) in all 27 European countries. These patents are still within the period allocated for filing an opposition and therefore a successful opposition would render them invalid for all 27 European countries. Ortho Caps also plans to file invalidity lawsuits against two other European patents EP1369091B1 and EP989828B1 that are owned by Align Technology.

Align Technology already initiated legal actions in the past against competitors  in the United States related to patents, the content of which could be considered part of the same family of patents, like the four European patents in dispute that are the subject of Align's claim against Ortho Caps. These lawsuits were unsuccessful. A US appeal court noted in 2006 that some of the main claims of two of Align's US patents (claims 1, 2, 3 and 7 of US patent 6,554,611 and claims 10 and 17 of US patent 6,398,548), the content of which essentially corresponds to that of a patent in dispute used by Align against Ortho Caps, were not patentable.

As a courtesy, Ortho Caps has sent a personal letter to Align Technology´s CEO Thomas Prescott, informing him of its intent and to bring it to his personal knowledge, the wealth of evidence that Ortho Caps will be presenting to the European Patent Office during these proceedings.

Jocelyne Khan
Ortho Caps GmbH
An der Bewer 8
59069 Hamm
Germany
+49-(0)2385-92190
http://www.orthocaps.com
info@orthocaps.de

SOURCE Ortho Caps GmbH