A federal judge rejected Align Technology's proposal to settle its antitrust case for a second time Feb. 27.
Five notes:
1. Align Technology was accused of participating in anticompetitive conduct that drove up the prices of SmileDirectClub aligners. The class action lawsuit stemmed from a previous agreement between the two clear aligner companies in which Align Technology agreed not to enter the direct-to-consumer market. This agreement allegedly led to SmileDirectClub patients paying more for their aligners.
2. Align Technology agreed to pay $27.5 million to settle the allegations and filed a motion for the settlement Aug. 29. As part of the settlement, Align agreed to provide $300 coupons for its Invisalign treatment to the nearly 1.4 million class members.
3. In September, a federal judge denied the proposal and stated that Align Technology failed to address several issues in its agreement, including the potential impact of the coupon distribution on competition in the industry.
4. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria took issue once more with the coupon provisions in the proposal, stating that these would just bring more customers to the company, according to court documents.
5. A case management conference is scheduled for April 18, during which the parties can submit a new settlement for approval.