The Elephant in the Room: Patent # 9,717,568

Many have heard about it, many don’t want to think about it, and many don’t know what to do about it. There are even many who want to pretend it doesn’t exist. It was all laughable until we started getting the Cease & Desist Letters. Eventually, the patent could affect everybody in the orthodontic and dental industry that uses a 3D printer, so how about we shine some light on it?

US Patent #9,717,568 is “Dental Device Fabrication on a 3-D Printed Arch Model.” Many have gotten C&D Letters from George L. Boller on behalf of the owners of the patent, Loren and Michael Adell and TriGroup Technologies, Ltd in Sunnyvale, Texas. Someone was threatened with a jury trial over this and others might be next. I have had my name and posts sent to various people for speaking out against the patent, trying to discourage their association with me. There have been spies in various private Facebook groups and even at a meeting in Texas.

Nobody took the patent seriously. Everybody laughed it off. I mean, it is laughable. They did not patent a product, their Siliform. No. That is something I would get behind and even help defend. They patented a process: the process of applying a separator to a 3D printed model. Yes, you read that right: they patented the PROCESS of applying a separator to a 3D printed model.

We have been applying separators to models for as long as I can remember, some version of foil. Dr. Hawley mentioned the process as common in an article he published in 1923. 3D models have been used in our industry for well over 15 years. So how can someone get a recent patent for something so obvious? Something that has been used for a long time? Can they sue us if we use Vaseline to coat the model as many are doing?

You need to ask your lawyer about that but it has to do with spending the money and then finding the right USPO attorney to approve it. Apparently, it happens all the time. But what can we do about it now?

This is where I got into trouble. I have been accused of “vilifying” the Adells and making malicious and villainous statements about them and their patent. My repost of the patent on toilet paper was sent as a screen shot along with my comments to many.

My reply is they already vilified themselves. They did not need my help. I always wanted to ask them a simple question: “what the hell were you thinking?”

Their first product, Siliform, worked on many models but not all. The industry had been using Vaseline, Chapstick, PAM cooking spray and other over the counter products and long used industry products to achieve separation. As excited as we were to finally get a product like Siliform, and as much as we spread the word about it through social media outlets, many of us had problems with the product.

First, Siliform was outrageously priced. We are used to paying less than $1 per ounce for the common liquid foils we use. Siliform was priced at about $50 per ounce.

Second, it did not work on all models. It worked well with my Juell DLP printed model but I heard that it was useless with the Stratasys 3D printed models.

Third, it would go bad. It was a two-part process, a conditioner and a separator. The conditioner, if exposed to oxygen over time, would solidify and you would be stuck with half a can of useless, expensive stuff.

Lastly, I had issues with the Safety Data Sheet. It was almost blank and the fumes, in an industry where we are used to harsh fumes, could knock me on my butt. I actually felt weird every time I handled it. What was in it? Was anything harmful being transferred to me and my employees or, even worse, being transferred to appliances people would be wearing in their mouths for decades?

We went looking for something else and we found it. Some version of PVA might not work as well as Siliform, but it does work. It is cheap and known to be safe as it has been used to coat pills and ingested for decades.

When the industry was chattering about Siliform and how it worked, we heard nothing. When we started chattering about PVA and other usable products, that is when we started receiving C&D letters. My first one and another one can be read here.

One interesting conversation comes to mind. Somebody posted that they basically got stoned out of their mind doing a sniff test at a local hardware store. They were able to replicate the separation with some form of acetone and then an industrial marble sealant. I agreed with the doctor who spoke out against it, but I also wondered even more what was in Siliform?

With a stamp, the Adells and TriGroup Technologies, in my mind, went from industry partners to industry pariahs. Who attacks their customer base? Who tells their customers “buy our product or else we can sue you for patent infringement and enticement to infringe”? Why not, you know, compete by offering a better product at a better price?

Did we all become villains in the eyes of the law for stating the obvious?

Many might see the trouble beginning with my big mouth, first by sharing information about Siliform and contact Information for TriGroup Technologies and then by sharing information about other products. Through many Facebook groups and trying to get an association up and running, I have been trying to help the industry. Then, me being me, I took it all one step further and questioned the legality of the patent and pointed out the ridiculousness of patenting a 50+ year old process. Click here to see the evolution of separating an orthodontic appliance from a model.

The problem, though, is with lawyers and the USPO. I have spoken to many, many industry professionals. They all consider the patent absurd, obvious, and unable to withstand a challenge. I have had this conversation with many lawyers and wrote to the USPO, FDA, FTC, AG and a few other acronyms. It all comes down to one thing: money. A lot of money.

The patent, which you can read here, is a complicated mess. I do not even know what it says and my reading comprehension skills are pretty good. All that I really know is a lawyer, wrote to me saying I was enticing to infringe it. It took me hours to explain to my patent lawyer what we do in the orthodontic lab. He is still asking me about water soluble sheets?

Yes, the patent can be challenged fairly cheaply in an ex parte review. It would cost me $3,000 to have it done. But then you have to add in the legal fees of having it professionally researched to prepare the review. And will the ex parte review work? If the USPO officer who let it through did not understand the obviousness of the patent, would the reviewer? That would lead to an in parte review which can cost a lot, lot more money.

The SW Philly/Infantry in me wants to rise up here and have some choice words about the 3D printing companies who will not get involved, though they have the money and the lawyers on staff. I keep on being told it is not their problem and why should they get involved?

A person at my first 3D printer company keeps giving me the company line: “we sold you a printer, not a process.”

Why can’t anybody just do the right friggin’ thing?

he patent can and will affect everybody who buys a 3D printer, except Structo and EnvisionTEC who have come out with materials that have made separators unnecessary.

That’s where many, many of my troubles started, throughout my life: hoping that somebody would step up and do the right thing. So, as I wrote to those same 3D printing companies, here I am, with my ass hanging in the wind, with a big red crosshair on it for the Adells and some new law firm sending out new letters about me, trying to attack the association that I formed to help people and that has nothing to do with the patent challenge. See letter here.

I received tons of advice that I cannot do anything with. I’m broke and talking to a lawyer beyond the initial conversation is like starting a meter in a cab with a few more zeroes added. Challenge, counter suit, sue for something or another, anti trust litigation, etc. I am $15,000 in with no end in sight. Because I am not privately wealthy, and I still want to help out the industry, I am writing this.

I need money. I need names to add to the defense. You can find my lawyer’s information here to donate to the Patent Troll Defense Fund. Everybody in the industry can benefit from this patent being nullified. How about surprising me and getting my back? I’ll still take point.

You can also donate to my GoFundMe page. As mentioned before, the US has done some to reel in patent trolls, but not enough. I am hoping that the GoFundMe page can both give me the means to challenge and defeat the patent while at the same time raising awareness on the patent troll issue and beginning a campaign to get our representatives to take a better look at the issue.

All money collected will be first, used to challenge the patent. Second, if any, to recover my costs. Third, if any, either put into a fund for another defense or donated to a good charity.

Thank you,

Christopher Gajewski
Private Citizen
President, Bryn Mawr Orthodontic Laboratory