Judge Rules Against Overjet’s Attempt to Block VideaHealth’s Marketing and Sales

Image Credit: © VideaHealth

A Massachusetts federal judge ruled last week that Overjet failed to demonstrate that artificial intelligence (AI) competitor VideaHealth was guilty of unfair competition, false advertising, and copyright infringement.

Earlier this year, Overjet had accused its rival of copying the colors and shapes its AI program uses to make caries and gum diseases easier to spot on dental x-rays in a complaint filed in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Boston-based Overjet was seeking to preliminarily block VideaHealth Inc.'s sales or marketing of its diagnostic software, which was at the center of their copyright infringement case. Overjet announced new enhancements to its dental AI platform in May that included updates to its Insurance Intelligence platform Overjet Connect. Overjet’s AI outlines decay, allowing clinicians to get a better view of caries in the patient’s mouth.

In the court findings, it states that Overjet employs “color schemes, shapes, and designs” to help visualize detection and segmentation of diseases on dental x-rays, and that in the fall of 2023, Overjet launched its “Anatomical Structures Visualization Tool” (“Visualization Tool”) for Overjet Caries Assist, which introduced the coloring scheme and design at issue in the instant motion.

Overjet alleges that Videa’s Patient View—VideaAI offers both a Clinical View and a Patient View—copies its protected coloring scheme, shades, and shape. But Judge Allison D. Burroughs disagreed.

Related reading: Southeastern DSO Riccobene Associates Picks VideaHealth as its AI Partner

In a July 19 order refusing to grant a pretrial injunction, the ruling states that a company that used artificial intelligence technology to mark up dental x-rays into color-coded segments in order to help clinicians identify diseases could not claim copyright protection over its color scheme because it was largely “functional and not expressive” and because it required little originality to devise.

Overjet first sued VideaHealth just weeks after Heartland Dental, the nation’s largest dental services organization, announced in December 2023 that it had selected Videa to be its dental AI partner after evaluating the AI offerings of both companies, according to court documents. Overjet appears to suggest that Videa obtained the Visualization Tool when Overjet released it to all Heartland Clinics on November 15, 2023, according to the order. The judge, however, said Overjet hasn’t established that Heartland’s decision to choose VideaHealth was influenced by any alleged misrepresentations.

In her conclusion, Judge Burroughs states:

“Accordingly, Overjet’s motion for a preliminary injunction, [ECF No. 8], is DENIED. Overjet has failed to make a sufficient showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits. At this time, Overjet has failed to demonstrate that the color, shape, and shades used in its Visualization Tool are copyrightable, that Videa has made materially false and misleading statements when advertising its products, or that it is likely to suffer irreparable harm.”

Overjet has reached out to Dental Products Report in August to point out that this is still ongoing case.

To read the complete ruling, click here.

For more news on dental AI, visit dentalproductsreport.com.