As stated I was on a Federal Jury the past week, starting on Monday...

Starting on Monday 8/18/2008 - I was on a jury for a Federal Patent Litigation case in the US Federal Court, 8th Circut court, Eastern Missouri district. Judge Charles Shaw, who was appointed to the federal bench in 1993 by then President Bill Clinton, was the judge in the case. Judge Shaw was a gentleman throughout, because these two parties had been battling tooth and nail for the past two plus years in the federal courts over the patent one held for a "self-ligating orothodontic bracket" Orthodontic brackets are manufactured by about 15 different companies servicing the orthodontic dental medical community and have several differing designs. These two companies in question were the only ones, however, who had what are known as "self-ligating" brackets, which are those that are able to hold the orthodontic arch wire closed utilizing a metal clip instead of wire twine or rubber donuts/rubberbands, which makes for ease of use for orthodontists -- they can see more patients and reduce patient time in the chair, etc. Trust me, we were deludged with salesmen from both companies, had to examine sales brocheures, etc., in the process of the trial. I now know more about orthodontic equipment than I ever wanted to. The two companies in question were the plantiff, Orthoarm, a company established to hold the patent in question (actually an ortondontist whose invention this was) whose patent, established in 1997 for self-ligating orthodontic brackets, was the one in question, who had licenced this to GAC, Inc. of Long Island, NY. GAC's InOvation R bracket was the invention in question here, it was self-ligating, meaning it could close off the arch wire slot with its metal clip construction. Forestadent USA, a division of Forestadent GMBH, itself a division of Bernhardt Furster, GMBH, was the defendant in the battle. Forestadent came to market with a similar product in 2005, called the Quick Bracket. This product was deliberated and designed over a three year period since the introduction of the GAC product, and was a result of, according to the plantiff, a failed bracket design which wasnt catching on in the orthodontic community. I sensed a little whiff of the competitive aire there. This happens when all the testimony you receive from one side, outside of expert witness testimony, comes from sales people. Both sides were guilty of this with their first witnesses both being sales people. More on this later....