Ormco Corp. v. Align Technology, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
463 F.3d 1299 (2006)
Dr. Traux publicly demonstrated and distributed instruction sheets at seminars describing a technique using a series of retainers of varying thicknesses to progressively reposition teeth, personally inspecting patients before providing each successive retainer, while Align's patented Invisalign claim required progressively shaped appliances, usage instructions, and delivery in a single package; the district court found the patent not invalid despite these similarities.
Whether an invention is obvious, and therefore not patentable, if the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time of invention to a person having skill in the relevant art, including where there is an explicit or implicit showing of a suggestion or motivation to modify the teachings of the prior art to the claimed invention.