Earlier this week, CAO Group filed lawsuits in the United States District Courts of Utah and the Central District of California against Biolase, alleging patent infringement in Biolase’s EPIC and ezlase product lines. Now, Biolase has declared its intentions to vigorously fight CAO Group’s claims, calling them meritless.
“Rather than compete fairly and effectively in the marketplace against our products and advance laser dentistry overall, Densen Cao has adopted the destructive strategy of abusive patent legislation as his de facto business model,” said Harold Flynn, chief executive officer of Biolase.
“Once again, he continues to abuse our court system with his eponymous company, with patent troll-like strategies, in an attempt to do what he can’t seem to do in the marketplace: compete against us by selling products. After battling for years, we are well aware of his irrational game plan, and we remain steadfast in our belief that we will prevail over his latest gambit,” Flynn said.
Biolase notes that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have already rejected CAO Group’s most crucial claims. Also, Biolase reports that while it licenses some of its technology to other manufacturers for commercially reasonable royalties, it does not license patents that are invalid or do not cover its products.
Furthermore, Biolase says that CAO Group’s latest claims overlap significantly and focus on lasers with various non-differentiating feature combinations such as replaceable tips, wireless foot pedals, battery packs, laser fiber connectors, laser monitoring integrated circuits, and touch screens. These features have been used in lasers for many years, Biolase continues, and do not represent innovations worthy of patent protection.
“Biolase is an early pioneer and is proud of its 30 years of innovation,” Flynn said.
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