Tag: R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.

Judge Boosts PM’s Infringement Award

Photo: New Africa
R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. owes Philip Morris Products more than $14 million after a federal judge on Aug. 17 increased a jury’s June patent-infringement award over vapor products to include prejudgment interest and supplemental damages, reports Bloomberg Law.
Judge Leonie M. Brinkema amended the judgment entered June 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to reflect a total judgment amount of $10.9 million for infringement of one patent and $3.16 million for infringement of another.
In its June 15 judgement, the jury found that RJR’s Vuse Solo and Alto devices infringe two Philip Morris patents covering parts of a vaping device for heating substances and preventing leaks. At the same time, the jury cleared Vuse Alto of infringing one of the patents.
The verdict concerned counterclaims in RJR’s ongoing patent lawsuit over PMI’s IQOS heated-tobacco device. RJR won an order blocking IQOS imports at the U.S. International Trade Commission last November.
Philip Morris succeeded earlier this year in invalidating parts of some patents RJR accused it of infringing at a U.S. Patent Office tribunal.
RJR parent company BAT has also sued Philip Morris over IQOS in the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere. A PMI filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year said IQOS patent lawsuits and challenges outside of the U.S. have “repeatedly and universally failed.”
Altria has separately sued Reynolds for patent infringement in North Carolina over the Vuse line.
August 21, 2022
Jury Awards PMI $10.7 Million in Patent Case

Photo: md3d
A U.S. jury awarded Philip Morris International $10.7 million on June 15 after finding that R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s Vuse e-cigarettes violate its patent rights, reports Reuters.
The federal court jury in Alexandria, Virginia, said RJR’s Vuse Solo and Alto devices infringe two PMI patents covering parts of a vaping device for heating substances and preventing leaks. At the same time, the jury cleared Vuse Alto of infringing one of the patents.
A Philip Morris spokesperson told Reuters the company was “grateful” for the verdict, which “rejects an attempt by BAT to free-ride on our hard work and investment.”
A spokesman for RJR indicated it may appeal the June 14 verdict.
The case is part of a multi-front patent dispute between PMI and RJR parent company British American Tobacco.
The recent verdict concerned counterclaims in RJR’s ongoing patent lawsuit over PMI’s IQOS heated-tobacco device. RJR won an order blocking IQOS imports at the U.S. International Trade Commission last November.
PMI succeeded earlier this year in invalidating parts of some patents RJR accused it of infringing at a U.S. Patent Office tribunal.
BAT has also sued PMI over IQOS in the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere. A PMI filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year said IQOS patent lawsuits and challenges outside of the U.S. have “repeatedly and universally failed.”
Altria has separately sued RJR for patent infringement in North Carolina over the Vuse line, in another case that is still pending.
June 16, 2022
Reynolds Settles Vuse Patent Suit Before Trial

Photo: RAI
R.J. Reynolds (RJR) has settled Fuma International’s claims that Reynold’s Vuse products infringed on the manufacturer’s e-cigarette patents, reports Reuters. RJR settled the suit just four days before the trial was slated to begin, according to a Thursday filing in North Carolina federal court.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles found in May that RJR’s products infringed parts of two Fuma patents. A jury in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, was set to consider on Nov. 15 whether RJR infringed additional parts of one of the patents, whether the patents were valid, and what damages RJR owed, among other things.
Fuma sued in 2019 for infringing patents related to an e-cigarette design with a cartridge and power source. The complaint said RJR copied Fuma’s design after meeting with Fuma about its e-cigarette technology in 2010.
Fuma asked for up to $135 million in damages, according to court filings.
Vuse is one of the most popular e-cigarette brands in the U.S. RJR introduced the Vuse Solo in 2013 and the Vuse Ciro in 2017. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave RJR permission to market Solo in October, its first-ever authorization for a vaping product.
The tobacco giant argued the relevant parts of the patents were invalid based on prior art that disclosed the same design, according to Reuters. Details of the settlement weren’t immediately available.
November 14, 2021
FDA OKs Tobacco-Flavored Vuse Solo

Photo: R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued marketing orders to R.J. Reynolds (RJR) Vapor Co. for its Vuse Solo closed electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) device and accompanying tobacco-flavored e-liquid pods.
The orders allow RJR to legally sell its Vuse Solo Power Unit, Vuse Replacement Cartridge Original 4.8 percent G1 and Vuse Replacement Cartridge Original 4.8 percent G2 in the United States. This marks the first set of ENDS products ever to be authorized by the FDA through the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway.
“Today’s authorizations are an important step toward ensuring all new tobacco products undergo the FDA’s robust scientific premarket evaluation,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, in a statement. “The manufacturer’s data demonstrates its tobacco-flavored products could benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products—either completely or with a significant reduction in cigarette consumption—by reducing their exposure to harmful chemicals.”
Zeller said the FDA would monitor the marketing of the products, including whether the company fails to comply with any regulatory requirements or if credible evidence emerges of significant use by individuals who did not previously use a tobacco product, including youth. “We will take action as appropriate, including withdrawing the authorization,” said Zeller.

The manufacturer’s data demonstrates its tobacco-flavored products could benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products—either completely or with a significant reduction in cigarette consumption—by reducing their exposure to harmful chemicals.
Mitch Zeller, director, FDA CTP
Under the PMTA pathway, manufacturers must demonstrate to the agency that, among other things, marketing of the new tobacco product would be appropriate for the protection of the public health. The FDA found RJR’s products to meet this standard because, among several key considerations, the agency determined that study participants who used only the authorized products were exposed to fewer harmful and potentially harmful constituents from aerosols compared to users of combusted cigarettes.
The toxicological assessment also found the authorized products’ aerosols are significantly less toxic than combusted cigarettes based on available data comparisons and results of nonclinical studies.
Additionally, the FDA considered the risks and benefits to the population as a whole, including users and nonusers of tobacco products, and, importantly, youth. This included review of available data on the likelihood of use of the product by young people. For these products, the FDA determined that the potential benefit to smokers who switch completely or significantly reduce their cigarette use would outweigh the risk to youth, provided the applicant follows post-marketing requirements aimed at reducing youth exposure and access to the products.
While authorizing the marketing of tobacco-flavored Vuse Solo e-liquid pods, the FDA issued 10 marketing denial orders (MDOs) for flavored ENDS products submitted under the Vuse Solo brand by RJR. Due to potential confidential commercial information issues, the FDA is not publicly disclosing the specific flavored products. These products subject to an MDO for a premarket application may not be introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce.
The agency is still evaluating the company’s application for menthol-flavored products under the Vuse Solo brand.
BAT welcomed the marketing orders. “We are pleased that, today, Vuse Solo received the first of its kind U.S. Food and Drug Administration marketing authorization for vapor products, authorizing the sale of our U.S. subsidiary Reynold’s Vuse Solo product in Original flavor,” the company wrote in a statement following the FDA announcement. “FDA’s orders confirm that Vuse Solo products are appropriate for the protection of the public health, underscoring years of scientific study and research dedicated to ensuring that adult nicotine consumers aged 21-plus have access to innovative and potentially less harmful alternatives to traditional tobacco products.”
The company said it was studying the MDOs for five flavors currently not on the market.

FDA has turned its back on the public health by approving a high-nicotine e-cigarette.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy
Anti-tobacco activists expressed disappointment with the FDA’s decision. “While it is a positive step that FDA denied applications for 10 flavored Vuse e-cigarettes, it is concerning that a product that has three times the nicotine concentration as legally permitted in Canada, the U.K. and Europe was authorized,” wrote Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, on the organization’s website. “Vuse products with this level of nicotine leave our nation’s youth at an undue risk of addiction.”
“FDA has turned its back on the public health by approving a high-nicotine e-cigarette,” said Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy. “Many countries around the world have capped the amount of nicotine allowed in e-cigarettes, which allowed them to avoid a youth vaping epidemic.”
October 12, 2021
Court: Vuse Infringes on Fuma Patents

Photo: R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.
R.J. Reynolds (RJR) Vapor Co.’s Vuse Solo and Ciro e-cigarettes infringe patents owned by Fuma International, a federal court in North Carolina ruled, according to Reuters.
Fuma sued RJR in 2019 for infringing two of its patents that outline types of e-cigarettes made of a cartridge and power source.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles found that the products included two of the disputed elements and infringed both patents but that the question of whether they included the third element should go to trial.
The Vuse Solo has one of the patent’s “electrically conductive portion” that couples the cartridge to the power source, and the Vuse Ciro has a type of airflow passageway featured in both patents, Eagles said.
However, the third disputed element—whether the Solo has the “electrically conductive threaded portion” from a Fuma patent—will be decided at trial. RJR provided enough evidence to show that the relevant part of its device may not be “threaded” under the patent’s definition, according to Eagles.
RJR spokesperson Kaelan Hollon told Reuters that the company “looks forward to proving at trial that the Fuma patents are invalid” and that Solo doesn’t infringe the part of the patent still at issue.
Vuse is one of the most popular e-cigarette brands in the United States.
Earlier this month, a judge ruled that Philip Morris International’s IQOS tobacco-heating device infringes two Vuse Vibe and Vuse Solo patents. That case will likely be reviewed by the full International Trade Commission.
May 27, 2021
RJR Challenges Philip Morris Vapor Patent

Image: USPTO
R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) has petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a review of six claims relating to the basic functionality of e-cigarettes in a patent assigned to Philip Morris Products, reports Law Street Media.
RJRV argues that the patent describes an approach that dates from 1990 and has “become accepted in view of its comparatively easy technical realizability in combination with its convincing functionality.”
According to the filing, there are disadvantages in the prior technology that the asserted patent claims to fix, such as the increasing contamination of the vaporizing unit throughout its life, a fluid leak and that due to its design, the e-cigarette’s length cannot be shortened.
RJRV takes issue with the patent’s six claims on the basis that to a person having ordinary skill in the field, it would have been obvious to combine previous inventions to overcome the claimed deficiencies.
RJRV requests the cancellation of the claims as unpatentable.
It’s not the first time that Reynolds and Philip Morris have quarreled about intellectual property. In June 2020, Philip Morris International filed counterclaims against Reynolds for patent infringement in the federal court action that RJR commenced against PMI and Altria, PMI’s IQOS distributor in the U.S., on April 9, 2020 in the Eastern District of Virginia.
April 22, 2021
BATSA opens first VUSE Inspiration store

Photo: BAT
British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) has opened the first VUSE Inspiration store in South Africa in the Canal Walk shopping center in Cape Town.
VUSE Inspiration stores will be opened at 67 existing sites throughout South Africa.
“To date, we have made an extensive investment in bringing Twisp into BATSA’s portfolio, and we plan to invest further in our tobacco harm reduction strategy in South Africa,” said BATSA General Manager Johnny Moloto in a statement. “We will be expanding our number of kiosks, investing in bringing our new products to market and enhancing the skills of our BAT team.”
Another 15 new sites in key locations will be added to the VUSE network by December as part of a significant expenditure project.
“The opening of our first flagship VUSE Inspiration store in South Africa is an important milestone in delivering on our harm reduction strategy and our investment in science and innovation to demonstrate the potential of our extended portfolio of products,” said Moloto.
March 29, 2021
Vuse Alto Vapor Brand Expands in the U.S.

Photo: R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.
The Vuse vapor brand announced today a national expansion in the United States of Vuse Alto Golden Tobacco 5.0 percent and Alto Menthol 5.0 percent four-pod packs and the national release of Vuse Alto Golden Tobacco 2.4 percent and Alto Menthol 2.4 percent four-pod packs.
The four-pod packs provide adult vapor consumers with three Vuse Alto configuration options as they can now choose from single-pod, two-pod or four-pod packs. The national availability of four-pod packs gives Vuse the most expansive portfolio of choice for adult vapor consumers with three flavors, in three nicotine strengths across three configuration formats as well as the many options for device customization with a range of device colors, wraps and engraving options.
“Done responsibly, our ambition is to make Vuse the No. 1 vapor brand in the U.S. market,” said Christy Canary-Garner, vice president of Vuse commercial development at R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co, in a statement. “This portfolio expansion provides us with the opportunity to better compete and enhances our price competitiveness to drive conversion among existing adult vapor consumers and boost loyalty.
“The four-pod pack configuration is the most popular among competitive pod-mod vapor products, and four-pod packs enable Vuse Alto to compete against competitors on a per-pod price point. The new four-pod packs are available to all retail outlets.
“Coupled with our release of single pods in November of 2020, this national rollout of four-pod packs now gives adult Vuse consumers more options than any other brand.”
The national expansion of the four-pod packs will begin this week.
February 26, 2021
RAI Submits Applications for Velo Pouches

Photo: RAI
Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) has submitted a group of premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking orders authorizing the marketing of Velo pouches. A grant of these marketing orders would allow these products to remain on the market after FDA review.
Velo is the group’s brand for modern oral products, designed to provide adult tobacco consumers with innovative alternatives to traditional combustible and smokeless tobacco products. A small, white pouch made with nicotine derived from tobacco but containing no tobacco leaf, Velo is placed between an adult tobacco consumer’s gum and lip. Unlike traditional dip, there is no need to spit the product and no lingering smell. The submitted group of applications includes varying nicotine strength levels and two flavors for Velo pouch products.
As with prior PMTA submissions, these commercially-proprietary applications provide the FDA with product analyses, information on human health risks, and assessments showing that these Velo pouches are appropriate for the protection of public health—including assessments on users and nonusers of tobacco products.
James Figlar (Photo: RAI)
“Velo represents an innovative space for us to identify what adult tobacco consumers want next—thus submitting the final group of Velo brand PMTAs was a great next step to help ensure adult tobacco consumers have consumer-acceptable products available that provide them with lifestyle choices and varying nicotine levels that make sense,” said James Figlar, RAI’s executive vice president and head of scientific and regulatory affairs, in a statement. “As the FDA begins evaluation of our industry’s collective PMTAs after the Sept. 9 deadline, it is critical that our chief regulatory agency continues to enforce against illegally marketed tobacco products introduced after Aug. 8, 2016.”
The PMTAs for Velo pouches are part of Reynolds’ ongoing submissions to the FDA seeking marketing orders following applications for Velo lozenges and Vuse Vibe, Ciro and Solo electronic nicotine delivery systems. The PMTA process allows the FDA to evaluate whether these products should remain on the market as part of the FDA’s public health mission. While these applications include relative risk information, the marketing orders sought make no claims of modified risk.
September 2, 2020
R.J. Reynolds Launches Velo Nicotine Lozenges

Photo: RJRVC
R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company (RJRVC) is expanding its modern oral portfolio with Velo dissolvable nicotine lozenges.
A leading modern oral nicotine brand globally, Velo-branded products in the United States are designed to provide adult tobacco consumers with innovative, enjoyable alternatives to traditional combustible and smokeless tobacco.
RJRVC says the decision to offer Velo nicotine lozenges reflects the company’s commitment to meeting adult nicotine consumers’ changing preferences and desire for convenience, simplicity and choice.
“We are pleased to expand the Velo product portfolio to better provide adult nicotine consumers with a range of sensorial, modern oral nicotine options,” said Shay Mustafa, senior vice president for modern oral at RJRVC. “Bringing Velo nicotine lozenges to our portfolio reiterates our commitment to empower consumer choice and to provide adult nicotine consumers with products that fit modern lifestyles.”
Velo-branded dissolvable nicotine lozenges are currently available for adult nicotine consumers to responsibly purchase at select retailers in Atlanta, Charlotte, Columbus, Houston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and online at www.velo.com.
In addition to dissolvable hard and soft format lozenges in four flavors, Velo offers adult nicotine consumers disposable nicotine pouches in varying strengths and flavors.
July 10, 2020