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LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2017 / Active Wall St. blog coverage looks at the headline from Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN). On April 19, 2017, ClearCorrect LLC announced that it had received a notice from the Director of US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which orders the re- opening of two "ex parte re-examinations" which were earlier ruled in favor of Align Technology back in March 2017. Register with us now for your free membership and blog access at: http://www.activewallst.com/register/.
One of Align Technology's competitors within the Medical Appliances & Equipment space, Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZBH), announced on April 11, 2017, that its Q1 2017 sales and earnings conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 8 a.m. ET. A news release detailing the quarterly results will be made available at 7:30 a.m. ET the morning of the conference call. AWS will be initiating a research report on Zimmer Biomet in the coming days.
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The Director of USPTO has given orders to the patent examiners to reassess Align's US Patent 6,217,325 and 6,722,880. The order was given after ClearCorrect presented several new independent bases for cancelling Align's claims. These independent bases raised substantial new questions with regards to patentability.
The USPTO had issued in March 28, 2017, re-examination certificates for Align's US Patent Nos. 5,975,893 and 6,398,548. Additionally, on February 16, 2017, Align's patents - US Patent Nos. 6,217,325, 6,722,880, and 8,070,487 - were also issued re-examination certificates by the USPTO. USPTO ruled that four out of these patents were valid and enforceable.
ClearCorrect has further requested the reopening of three additional Align's patents. The USPTO has not yet responded to the request and the matter remains outstanding.
ClearCorrect is a manufacturer of orthodontic clear aligners and Align also manufactures a similar product under the brand Invisalign®. ClearCorrect's aligners are used by orthodontists to straighten the teeth of patients without the use of wires and brackets. They are a sequence of removable clear trays that fit over the teeth and straighten them.
History so far
The case started by Align in February 2011 and involves filing of suits and counter lawsuits and complaints between Align and ClearCorrect across institutions like the federal court, US ITC, and the USPTO. Below is some of the key timeline:
February 28, 2011: Align files a complaint against ClearCorrect with the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas alleging that ClearCorrect infringes the claims of nine Align patents. The case was stayed in 2012 and simultaneously proceedings with US International Trade Commission (ITC) had started. The stay was lifted in January 2017. Align claimed that ClearCorrect's prices were too low and they infringed on Align's patents.
May 12, 2011: ClearCorrect counter sues Align asking the court to declare that all 408 claims and 10 patents of Align are invalid.
March 2012: Align files two complaints with the ITC. The first complaint alleges that ClearCorrect infringes seven patents related to the methods of planning and implementing orthodontic treatment with aligners. In the second complaint, Align seeks enforcement of a Consent Order granted in 2006 from an ITC action between Align and OrthoClear. Align's stand is that OrthoClear and ClearCorrect be considered as the same Company and the Consent order to be enforced accordingly. Align's contention is that ClearCorrect sends digital data sets and digital models for teeth alignment to be produced in Pakistan and imported into the US and that infringe Align's patents.
June 28, 2012: US District Court stays the case following overlapping complaints by Align with ITC. The stay allows ClearCorrect to continue its manufacturing operations in US uninterruptedly.
January 07, 2013: The ITC terminates the investigation with regards to the enforcement complaint filed by Align in March 2012 as it found no violation by ClearCorrect.
May 2013: ClearCorrect receives a notice of initial determination in the patent infringement complaint filed by Align with ITC. Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in his preliminary opinion found that ClearCorrect did not infringe any of Align's product claims, but ClearCorrect infringed on the method by which the orthodontic process is performed.
April 03, 2014: The ITC made its ruling in the patent infringement case. It ruled that out of the 7 patents and 40 claims, ITC found ClearCorrect did not infringe on 2 patents and 22 claims. However, the ITC ruled that ClearCorrect infringed on 18 claims related to the digital data received from ClearCorrect Pakistan. As a result, the Commission issued an order to cease and desist importing specific digital data
June 2014: ITC grants ClearCorrect motion to stay the Cease and Desist orders issued in April 014 on procedural grounds.
April 2015: Align and Clear Correct signed an agreement to resolve the pending Remanded Enforcement Proceeding (Inv. No. 337-TA-562) before the ITC. This resolution will be dependent on the outcome of the pending appeal before the Federal Circuit in the Infringement Action (Inv. No. 337-TA-833). According to the agreement certain terms were agreed by both parties. The agreement will not impact Align and ClearCorrect's stand and decisions with regards to the cases pending with the US District Court.
June 2015: The USPTO grants ClearCorrect's request for re-examination of Align's patents US Patents 6,217,325, 8,070,487, and 6,722,880. ClearCorrect had provided evidence of unpatentability in the matter and the USPTO accepts that significant questions of patentability exist with regards to the patents granted to Align.
November 2015: The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit cleared ClearCorrect of any liability in the ITC, bringing the complaint by Align in 2012 to a close.
December 2015: ClearCorrect files an Inter Partes Review (IPR) against Align's Patent 6,699,037 with the USPTO. This would put the review of matter in a fast track.
March 31, 2016: Federal Circuit denies ITC's and Align's request to for en banc review of its November 2015 ruling against ClearCorrect. The decision stated that ITC's jurisdiction is limited to the import of tangible goods and does not extend to the transmission of digital data.
December 2016: Align files a patent infringement lawsuit against Germany's Hamm-based Ortho Caps GmbH in November 2011 for six patents. The German Federal Court of Justice, Bundesgerichtshof found that Ortho infringed on four out of six patents. Ortho in turn challenged the validity of two of the patents in the German courts. Following this in November 2016, the German Court ruled that one of Align's patents is invalid, and that one is partially invalid. Align is waiting on the European Patent Office's decisions on the other two patents to continue the patent infringement litigation.
February 2017: The USPTO issued re-examination certificates confirming the patentability of Align's US Patent Nos. 6,217,325, 6,722,880, and 8,070,487. ClearCorrect had initiated proceedings challenging the validity of these three patents with the USPTO. Following this ClearCorrect files two more re-examination requests for Align Patent 6,217,325.
March 28, 2017: USPTO validates the patentability of four out of the five patents of Align which were issued re-examination certificates on February 22, 2017 and March 22, 2017.
Stock Performance
On Wednesday, April 19, 2017, the stock closed the trading session at $117.55, climbing 1.06% from its previous closing price of $116.32. A total volume of 490.02 thousand shares have exchanged hands. Align Technology's stock price surged 24.50% in the last three months, 30.92% in the past six months, and 61.25% in the previous twelve months. Moreover, the stock surged 22.28% since the start of the year. Shares of the company have a PE ratio of 50.4343 and have a market capital of $9.44 billion.
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