SmileDirectClub To Appeal Decision In Align Technology Arbitration

 SmileDirectClub (NASDAQ: SDC), the oral care leader and creator of the first med tech platform for teeth straightening, announced its intention to appeal a decision regarding an award of $63 million to be paid to Align Technology following a dispute over the Company’s exclusive supply agreement with its former strategic partner.

Align Technology became an investor, strategic partner, and exclusive third party supplier of aligners to teledentistry pioneer SmileDirectClub, by purchasing a 19% ownership stake in the company in 2016. In March of 2019, the partnership was dissolved when an arbitrator found that Align violated the terms of its agreement with SmileDirectClub by attempting to replicate its business model by competing with SmileDirectClub through its own Invisalign retail concept. Align was ordered to close its retail locations, return its stake in SmileDirectClub, and barred from competing against the Company until August 2020.

Following this decision and after the parties’ Supply Agreement expired, Align Technology, in August 2020, filed an arbitration demand against SmileDirectClub alleging that the Company breached the Supply Agreement, and subsequently, SmileDirectClub filed counterclaims against Align. On October 27, 2022, an arbitrator issued an interim award against SmileDirectClub on certain of Align’s claims, specifically stating that it was not a final award, and that a final award would be issued after the arbitration’s second phase and subsequent proceedings on attorneys’ fees, interest, and costs. In May 2023 the arbitrator issued a Final Award, awarding Align $63 million in damages, which award was confirmed by a California trial court on August 23, 2023.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/smiledirectclub-appeal-decision-align-technology-212500113.html