Lompoc, CA, Nov. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today DenMat Holdings, LLC (“DenMat”) announced that it filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Chicago against more than 500 alleged counterfeiters of the company’s Snap-On Smile® dental appliance. DenMat has owned the Snap-On Smile trademark for more than a decade and also owns three U.S. Patents covering Snap-On Smile. Since 2010, DenMat has been the only source for authentic Snap-On Smile dental appliances, which DenMat custom manufactures at its world headquarters in Santa Barbara County, California.
In many instances, the alleged counterfeiters illegally use DenMat’s own trademarks, copyrighted marketing materials, and photos showing patients wearing Snap-On Smile. The alleged counterfeiters named in today’s lawsuit conduct their schemes via various internet ecommerce sites and are believed to have physical locations outside the U.S. DenMat believes many of the alleged counterfeiters do not provide anything to consumers after taking their money. Consumers should only seek genuine Snap-On Smiles from their personal dental professional.
“Snap-On Smile has become the leading clinical solution for long-term provisionalization, transitional aesthetics and function during comprehensive full mouth rehabilitation, or simply as an alternative for patients who are unable to afford implant dentistry,” says David Casper, CEO of DenMat. “We will protect DenMat’s intellectual property and the integrity of our brand by ensuring that counterfeits are identified and taken off the market. These products not only damage the Snap-On Smile brand, they mislead patients and can even be dangerous in certain situations,” added Casper.
In the lawsuit, DenMat is asking the Court to stop permanently the alleged counterfeiters from their illegal acts and award DenMat all profits plus $2,000,000 for each illegal use of DenMat’s Snap-On Smile trademark, as well as all of DenMat’s legal fees incurred in prosecuting the lawsuit. DenMat seeks to ensure that dental patients (and DenMat’s tens of thousands of dentist customers) enjoy the original and only Snap-On Smile. The lawsuit is Den-Mat Holdings, LLC v. Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations, Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-06194 (N.D. Ill. 2020).
About DenMat:
Since 1974, DenMat is a leader in high-quality dental products for dental professionals around the world. DenMat makes and assembles most of its products at its world headquarters on the Central Coast of California. DenMat offers three main product categories: Consumables, Small Equipment, and a Dental Laboratory. DenMat's consumables include brands that are known and trusted, including Fluoridex®, Geristore®, Core Paste®, Tenure®, Ultra-Bond®, Infinity®, SplashMax®, Precision®, Perfectemp®, Atridox® and LumiSmile White®. DenMat's small equipment offering includes a broad range of products, including NV®PRO3 and SOL® soft-tissue diode lasers, the Rotadent® power toothbrush, PeriOptix® magnification loupes and lights, Flashlite® curing lights and a full line of high-quality Hartzell® hand instruments. DenMat is also home to Lumineers®, the world's #1 patient-requested thin veneer, OrthoClear® aligners and Snap-On Smile®, the life-changing removable appliance.
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