Andover, MA, 1 March 2017:   The Patent Trial and Appeal Board in Washington, DC USA has ruled in favor of Instradent USA (the US distributor for Neodent) and has invalidated patent claims covering Nobel Biocare's flagship dental implant, NobelActive®.   

In 2015, Instradent challenged the validity of Nobel Biocare’s U.S. Patent No. 8,714,977 in response to legal action initiated by Nobel in 2014 in a District Court case and a subsequent ITC investigation, claiming patent infringement by the Neodent Drive CM implant. Instradent challenged the validity of all the claims asserted by Nobel in the ITC investigation.  The panel of three administrative judges on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found that all of the challenged claims were unpatentable.

“Nobel’s attempt to claim originality and to discredit our products was wrong and misleading. Their claim was not about protecting something unique but instead a blatant effort to block us from offering customers high quality alternatives at very attractive prices. We are delighted with this outcome, which clears the way for enhanced implant designs and confirms Neodent’s reputation in the market”, commented Matthias Schupp, CEO of Neodent.

Neodent relies on a strong clinical track record that has been built up over 20 years. Its proven system has earned the trust of more than 30 000 clinicians, and the company has sold well over nine million implants worldwide. Now selling more than a million implants each year, Neodent is one of the world’s leading implant manufacturers.  Like most implant systems, its products are supported by the company’s own clinical experience as well as clinical and scientific findings published by third parties in the public domain.

About Instradent and Neodent

Instradent and Neodent are both Straumann Group brands.  Instradent was established in 2014 as a business platform to drive and manage the distribution and internationalization of specific brands for tooth replacement solutions. These leading brands include Neodent, Medentika and etkon and offer high-quality, attractively-priced products, that are popular in domestic and regional markets. Instradent’s goal is to make them available to dental professionals internationally through its growing network. Instradent’s organization is set up to deliver superior quality at highly competitive prices and maximum customer convenience.

Founded in 1993, Neodent is Latin America’s leading dental implant company, with  headquarters and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Curitiba. Neodent employs more than 1100 employees, operates more than 21 branches in Brazil and works with a wide network of distributors positioning the company as the market leader in the LATAM region. Neodent also has subsidiaries and distributors in other geographies, targeting the non-premium segment in these markets. The company places considerable importance on education and training through the ILAPEO (The Latin American Institute of Dental Research and Education), with the aim of ensuring quality treatment standards and patient care.