ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,544,195, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to Align Technology Inc. (San Jose, Calif.).
"Mold with weakened region" was invented by Peter Webber (Lafayette, Calif.), Rohit Tanugula (San Jose, Calif.), Shiva P. Sambu (Milpitas, Calif.) and Crystal Tjhia (Sunnyvale, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A mold is for thermoforming a dental appliance. The mold includes a first section of the mold and a second section of the mold. The second section includes a feature having a complex shape, an undercut, or a bite edge. The mold further includes a weakened region that joins the first section to the second section. The weakened region is breaka...