Düsseldorf, Germany) & Leuven, Belgium--The Swedish medical technology enterprise Nobel Biocare (Göteborg/Sweden) is alleged to use a method for making so called dental drill guides.
These dental drill guides are acknowledged as a very promising improvement for implant treatment. Materialise has therefore filed a patent infringement action at the Düsseldorf district court (Germany). Nobel Biocare is bing sued for infringement of the method which is protected by Claim 1 of European Patent (EP) 0 756 735 granted to the company Materialise (Leuven).
Materialise points out that it launched its dental drill guide system back in 1999 under the name of SurgiGuide, while Nobel Biocare did not introduce its NobelGuide system until 2005.
Dental drill guides transfer the surgical implant planning to the actual surgery. The principal allegation refers to a method for making medical models, including guides for dental surgery, that involves the use of grey value images and rapid prototyping.
"We would prefer not to resort to litigation, but we must protect our intellectual property and patented technology, wherever it is infringed," stated Materialise CEO Wilfried Vancraen."Our solution was the result of years of development work and a basis for further developments, continuously providing cutting-edge technology that contributes to the success of implant dentistry."
The Materialise patent refers to the priority date of April 19, 1994, and since then has gathered considerable clinical experience with it. According to the company, further research has yielded groundbreaking results leading to the 1999 introduction of the first (bone-supported) version of SurgiGuide.
It was followed in 2001 by a SurgiGuide version for zygomatic implants, in 2002 by a mucosa-supported SurgiGuide, and in 2003 by a tooth-supported SurgiGuide version. Materialise asserts that Nobel Biocare as well as diverse dental experts and opinion leaders in the industry were very well aware of the development of the SurgiGuide drill guides, which were presented at open conferences for clinicians.
When Nobel Biocare, the Swedish market leader, unveiled its NobelGuide system to a large public in 2005, Materialise resolved to take legal action. "Customers," says Vancraen, "have been shocked about the launch of the NobelGuide system and the Procera software from Nobel Biocare without the involvement or the acknowledgement of the rights of Materialise."
He adds that "our customers need to know they can rely on Materialise. Our products are based on extensive research and supported by a large R&D team."
Materialise is represented in the action against Nobel Biocare by the international law firm Bird & Bird.
