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Appeals court revives antitrust claims against Align Technology

SourceBecker's Dental + DSO ReviewTier 1Hard News

By Ariana Portalatin

Originally at beckersdental.com

Summary & scoring by The Bell Brief (Dr. Jennifer Bell) using the Drill-Down Protocol (Drill-Down Score) — not the original publisher.

Why it matters for dental

Align Technology faces revived antitrust litigation over its decision to stop allowing 3Shape TRIOS scanners to integrate with Invisalign; the outcome could affect scanner choice and software interoperability for U.S. practices using these systems.

Key points

  1. 01The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s summary judgment on refusal-to-deal claims and returned the case to the lower court.
  2. 02Align Technology terminated its interoperability agreement with 3Shape in December 2017, ending TRIOS scanner compatibility with Invisalign in the U.S. one year early.
  3. 03Dentists and consumers filed class-action lawsuits alleging Align Technology engaged in monopolization after the agreement ended.
  4. 04The district court granted class certification in 2023; the appeals court preserved the refusal-to-deal claims due to factual disputes.

Who should care

OwnerDSO

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