UPDATE 1-German court bans Nobel from offering NobelGuide

(Adds background, details, analyst comment)

ZURICH, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Belgium's Materialise Dental said on Thursday the District Court in Duesseldorf had banned Swiss-Swedish dental implant maker Nobel Biocare NOBE.VX from offering its NobelGuide product in Germany.

Materialise, which is active in computer-guided implantology, said the court had ruled Nobel Biocare was infringing a Materialise patent.

"Materialise...may decide to provisionally enforce this judgment which would stop Nobel Biocare from offering its 'NobelGuide' drilling templates in their current form in Germany," Materialise said in a statement.

Nobel Biocare said it would appeal the decision.

"Nobel Biocare, together with its lawyers, represents the view that no relevant claims of the Materialise's patent had been infringed," a spokesman for Nobel Biocare said.

Nobel Biocare shares, in which trade was temporarily stopped after the news, closed down 7.65 percent at 302.00 Swiss francs, underperforming an overall weaker Swiss market .SSMI.

"This is bad news, but it only affects one of many products at Nobel Biocare. From this point of view, the significant drop in Nobel shares seems over the top," said Vontobel analyst Christoph Gubler.

"But it shows how unsure investors are regarding the company. There are fears that more negative cases could come to light. I presume that Nobel Biocare and Materialise will reach an out of court settlement," Gubler said.

((Reporting by Katie Reid and Oliver Hirt; e-mail: katie.reid@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: katie.reid.reuters.com@reuters.net; telephone: +41 (0) 44 631 7320)) Keywords: NOBELBIOCARE MATERIALISE/

(C) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nL16773510