Tag: Juul

  • Lawsuit Against Juul Distributor Dismissed

    Lawsuit Against Juul Distributor Dismissed

    Photo: Okan Caliskan from Pixabay

    A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, has dismissed investors’ lawsuit against tobacco distributor Greenlane Holdings, reports Reuters.

    Investors filed a class action lawsuit, claiming Greenlane should have mentioned a pending ban on e-cigarettes before publicly offering stock in 2019.

    U.S. District Judge Roy Altman dismissed the proposed class action, saying the distributor for Juul Labs had no duty to flag San Francisco’s then-pending ban on e-cigarettes to investors ahead of its initial public offering in 2019, according to Reuters. Altman called the class action “nothing more than a hammer in search of a nail.”

    Altman ruled that the investors did not have a viable claim under the Securities Act of 1933 because Greenlane warned them of the risk of increased tobacco regulation in its registration statement, and the proposed e-cigarette ban was already public.

  • Call for Common Ground in THR

    Call for Common Ground in THR

    Joe Murillo

    For tobacco harm reduction to be successful, it is imperative that alternative products can compete with combustible cigarettes and that adult smokers have clear information on a product’s relative risk compared to smoking, according to Juul Labs Chief Regulatory Officer Joe Murillo.
     
    In his closing remarks at the 2020 Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (GTNF), Murillo spoke on how the category can sustainably accelerate the market away from combustible products while at the same time combating underage use and fostering a more responsible marketplace for vapor products that ensures equal access for all adult smokers.
     
    Murillo’s address pinpointed critical areas where the industry and stakeholders can find common ground in the pursuit of progress, including educating society on the benefits of tobacco harm reduction and using risk-proportionate regulation to elevate alternatives that can ultimately end the death and disease caused by smoking combustible cigarettes.
     
    According to Juul Labs, this year’s GTNF provided an invaluable opportunity for a diverse set of stakeholders to come together and speak about using innovation and regulation to create sustainable change in the tobacco and nicotine market.

  • Hawaii Sues Juul for Misleading Marketing

    Hawaii Sues Juul for Misleading Marketing

    Photo: jessica45 from Pixabay

    Hawaii Attorney General Clare E. Connors has filed a lawsuit against Juul Labs seeking penalties, damages and injunctive relief for violations of the state’s Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices Law.

    The complaint alleges that, for a period of more than five years, the defendants misleadingly marketed Juul e-cigarettes, intending to hook users on the product in the same manner used by tobacco companies in the marketing of cigarettes. 

    According to the attorney general, the defendants used marketing strategies that targeted teenagers, making Juul products seem desirable, all while falsely understating the nicotine content of the product and its addictiveness.

    “In marketing their e-cigarettes to Hawaii’s children, these companies ripped pages directly out of the tobacco company playbook and resurrected Joe Camel for a 21st Century audience,” said Connors. “By misrepresenting nicotine content and by presenting their products as healthy alternatives to cigarettes, they deceived the public and created a new generation of nicotine addicts.”

    The state seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation and damages along with an injunction requiring the defendants to halt their deceptive advertising practices and fund mitigation programs, including vaping-cessation programs.

  • Calls to Ban ‘Juul Replacement’ Puff Bar

    Calls to Ban ‘Juul Replacement’ Puff Bar

    Photo: Puff Bar

    U.S. lawmakers have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban Puff Bar, an e-cigarette that is quickly replacing Juul as the vape of choice among young people, reports The New York Times.

    The disposable devices come in more than 20 flavors, including pina colada and pink lemonade. Although the Trump administration banned fruit, mint and dessert flavors in refillable cartridge-based e-cigarettes like Juul earlier this year, it exempted brands that are used once and thrown away.

    Launched last year, Puff Bar has been the key beneficiary of the loophole. Based on data used for tracked channels, which exclude online sales or vape shops, Puff Bar sales have consistently been more than $3 million a week since April, with volumes now over 300,000 sticks per week.

    Juul’s business, by contrast, has shriveled since it restricted sales in the United States to tobacco and menthol varieties last fall.

    When the FDA started regulating e-cigarettes, it permitted the continued sale of products that were on the market as of Aug. 8, 2016, pending agency review. Because Puff Bar was introduced after that date, the agency should have the authority to remove it even though the product is disposable and even if the FDA cannot prove the company is targeting youths.

    The exception would be if Puff Bar had already been on the market before the 2016 deadline, under a different name or sold by another company.

  • Juul Seeks Dismissal of Vaping Epidemic Lawsuits

    Juul Seeks Dismissal of Vaping Epidemic Lawsuits

    Photo: Juul

    Juul Labs has asked a U.S. federal judge to dismiss or pause hundreds of lawsuits alleging the e-cigarette manufacturer fueled a youth vaping epidemic, reports Reuters.

    The company on Friday asked a federal judge in San Francisco to stay the lawsuits by consumers and local governments while the Food and Drug Administration determines whether it may continue to market its products.
     

  • Countermove: Altria Sues Reynolds Over Patent Infringement

    Countermove: Altria Sues Reynolds Over Patent Infringement

    Photo: Reynolds Vapor Co.

    Altria Group has filed suit against competitor R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. for patent infringement on e-cigarettes and associated products.

    Earlier, Reynolds filed its own patent-infringement suit against Altria and Philip Morris International over their IQOS heat-not-burn cigarette, a competitor of Reynolds’ Eclipse.

    Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, USA, Altria’s suit claims that Reynolds Vapor, owned by Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), violated nine patents held by Altria Client Services in producing its Vuse Vapor e-cigarette line. Altria contends that Reynolds’ Vuse brand of e-cigarettes uses heating technology, mouthpieces, batteries and liquid-filled pods covered by Altria’s patents for its Juul e-vapor products.

    “Reynolds Vapor has infringed on Altria’s intellectual property, and we are seeking financial damages for each of these violations,” Altria Client Services spokesman George Parman said Thursday, according to the story.

    Altria seeks unspecified monetary compensation but asks for “treble damages” for “defendant’s willful infringement” of the patents, as well as awards of compensation, supplemental damages after discovery cutoff and attorneys’ fees and expenses.

  • Juul Labs to Exit South Korea, Five EU Markets

    Juul Labs to Exit South Korea, Five EU Markets

    Juul Labs said today it would end operations in South Korea, a year after it entered the market. The company states the cause was its inability to gain market share amid government health warnings.

    In a statement, Juul Labs stated that since the beginning of the year it was working through a restructuring process aimed a re-establishing a viable business in South Korea by significantly reducing costs and making changes to its products.

    “However, these innovations will not be available as anticipated,” the statement said. “As a result, we intend to cease our operations in South Korea.”

    In October last year, South Korea’s health ministry advised people to stop vaping because of growing health concerns, especially after a case of pneumonia was reported in a 30-year-old e-cigarette user that month, according to Reuters news article.

    The announcement prompted convenience store chains and duty free shops to suspend the sale of flavored liquid e-cigarettes, including those made by Juul Labs.

    In December, South Korean health authorities said they had found vitamin E acetate, which may be linked to lung illnesses, in some liquid e-cigarette products made by Juul Labs, but the company denied using the material, according to Reuters.

    Juul Labs launched a product portfolio that was specifically developed for the Korean market in May 2019, but “our performance has not met expectations in terms of meeting the needs of our Korean adult smokers to successfully transition from combustible cigarettes,” according to the statement. “We have learned through this process and are focused on innovating our product portfolio.”

    Juul Labs is also reportedly ready to withdraw from a handful of EU markets as well, claiming the regulatory environment has become overly hostile to the device.

    According to BuzzFeed News, Juul will soon remove its products from shelves in Austria, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Spain.

    The news outlet reports the European Union’s strict requirement that e-cigs contain no more than 20 milligrams of nicotine makes it difficult for Juul to do business there.

    Austria, Belgium, and Portugal are very small markets for Juul, but the leading e-cig manufacturer generates significant sales from France and Spain. It will exit France by the end of the year, but withdraw from the other countries in July, paring its presence in global markets to a narrow selection that includes Germany, Italy, Russia, and the U.K.