Federal Circuit affirms ITC ruling on dental implants

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has  affirmed a ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC) on dental implant patents.

Handed down yesterday, July 19, the decision was on a case filed by dental implant company Nobel Biocare against Instradent and JJGC Industria E Comercio De Materiais Dentarios, two other dental companies.

In April last year, the ITC  found that the two dental companies had violated the Tariff Act of 1930 with the unlawful sale and importation of dental products that infringed Nobel’s patents.

The ITC said in its ruling: “The Commission has determined that the appropriate form of relief is a limited exclusion order prohibiting entry of infringing dental implants that are manufactured abroad.”

The patents involved were US numbers 8,714,977 and 8,764,443, covering dental implants.

In 2014 the ITC instituted the investigation after Nobel filed a complaint against Instradent and JJGC.

The Federal Circuit’s decision was made per curiam by chief judge Prost and circuit judges O’Malley and Chen. The ruling is non precedential.

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