The US District Court of the Southern District of Texas has granted a requestfrom ClearCorrect LLC, Houston, to stay the federal patent infringement case filed by competitor Align Technology Inc, San Jose, Calif, the maker of Invisalign.
The federal case, filed in February 2011, alleges ClearCorrectinfringes several of Align’s patents. ClearCorrect has maintained fromthe outset that it does not infringe any of Align’s valid intellectualproperty and countersued in response, asking the Court to declare theclaims in Align’s patents invalid.
In May 2012, ClearCorrect filed a motion to have the case stayed dueto overlapping complaints filed by Align to the US International TradeCommission. Despite Align’s objections, the US District Court grantedthe motion in ClearCorrect’s favor, effectively stopping the federalcase indefinitely and, according to ClearCorrect, virtually guaranteeingthe continued unrestricted operation of the company’s US-basedmanufacturing facility for the foreseeable future.
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