IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BIOLASE, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIOL), the world's leading dental laser company, today released the following statement in response to the latest attempt by CAO Group, Inc. to use patent litigation to try to improve its competitive position in the marketplace.

Though the lasers at issue represent less than a third of the company's revenues and are entirely unrelated to Waterlase®, its flagship brand, BIOLASE intends to fight CAO's most recent meritless claims vigorously. BIOLASE is well-known for its own innovations, and for respecting the valid intellectual property rights of others. It is not surprising that CAO has failed for years in its attempts to intimidate BIOLASE through abusive patent litigation. The most crucial claims against BIOLASE were rejected by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, as well as the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  BIOLASE is fully confident that this latest attempt will also fail. 

BIOLASE licenses some of its technology to other manufacturers for commercially reasonable royalties, but BIOLASE does not license patents that are invalid or do not cover its products. CAO's latest frivolous claims overlap significantly and focus on lasers with various non-differentiating feature combinations such as replaceable tips, wireless foot pedals, battery packs, laser fiber connectors, laser monitoring integrated circuits and touch screens.  Dentists know that these features have been used in lasers for many years, and these features do not represent innovations worthy of patent protection.

Harold Flynn, Chief Executive Officer of BIOLASE, stated, "Rather than compete fairly and effectively in the marketplace against our products and advance laser dentistry overall, Densen Cao has adopted the destructive strategy of abusive patent litigation as his de facto business model. Once again, he continues to abuse our court system with his eponymous company, with patent troll-like strategies, in an attempt to do what he can't seem do in the marketplace: compete against us by selling products.  After battling for years, we are well aware of his irrational game plan and we remain steadfast in our belief that we will prevail over his latest gambit."

Flynn continued, "BIOLASE is an early pioneer in the field and is proud of its 30 years of innovation.  CAO, still a bit commercial player, is putting forth a tortured application of claims from patents that appear to have received minimal scrutiny from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

"BIOLASE is proud to produce and sell the highest quality and value products manufactured here in the United States," Flynn added.  "CAO's diode is a second-rate product manufactured in China," added Flynn.  "As my predecessor stated six years ago, it is cheaply made, has a large physical footprint, and flaunts an unattractive design – which is why it cannot develop market share.  Sadly, Densen Cao has once again exploited our court system to try in vain to achieve what he still cannot accomplish in the dental marketplace."

About BIOLASE, Inc.
BIOLASE, Inc. is a medical device company that develops, manufactures, markets, and sells laser systems in dentistry and medicine and also markets, sells, and distributes dental imaging equipment, including three-dimensional CAD/CAM intra-oral scanners and digital dentistry software. BIOLASE's products advance the practice of dentistry and medicine for patients and healthcare professionals. BIOLASE's proprietary laser products incorporate approximately 220 patented and 90 patent-pending technologies designed to provide biologically clinically superior performance with less pain and faster recovery times.  BIOLASE's innovative products provide cutting-edge technology at competitive prices to deliver the best results for dentists and patients.  BIOLASE's principal products are revolutionary dental laser systems that perform a broad range of dental procedures, including cosmetic and complex surgical applications, and a full line of dental imaging equipment.  BIOLASE has sold over 35,500 laser systems to date in over 90 countries around the world.  Laser products under development address BIOLASE's core dental market and other adjacent medical and consumer markets.

For updates and information on Waterlase® iPlus™, Waterlase Express™, and laser dentistry, find BIOLASE online at www.biolase.com, Facebook at www.facebook.com/biolase, Twitter at www.twitter.com/biolaseinc, LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/biolase, Instagram at www.instagram.com/biolaseinc, and YouTube at www.youtube.com/biolasevideos.

BIOLASE^® and Waterlase® are registered trademarks of BIOLASE, Inc.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve significant risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding expected effects of the April 2017 financing and anticipated growth. Forward-looking statements can be identified through the use of words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," and variations of these words or similar expressions.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect BIOLASE's current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release.  Actual results may differ materially from BIOLASE's current expectations depending upon a number of factors affecting BIOLASE's business.  These factors include, among others, adverse changes in general economic and market conditions, competitive factors including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions, uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and market changes, risks associated with managing the growth of the business, and those other risks and uncertainties that are described, from time-to-time, in the "Risk Factors" section of BIOLASE's annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Except as required by law, BIOLASE does not undertake any responsibility to revise or update any forward-looking statements.

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SOURCE BIOLASE, Inc.