Competitors have rushed to fill the void after Juul, under pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, stopped selling most of its flavored nicotine pods in stores last fall, according to a report in The New York Times.
The companies are offering fruity and candy-flavored pods that are compatible with Juul devices. Sales of flavors such as “Strawberry Milk,” “Peach Madness” and “Froopy” have reportedly soared.
Juul Labs has filed numerous lawsuits and complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking to beat back the cheaper copycat devices and pods.
“If the box isn’t around, the parent would say it’s a Juul pod, but it’s not us,” said Matthew Hult, a Juul Labs lawyer. “It injects confusion and tarnishes the Juul brand.”
The company is also targeting sellers of counterfeit vapor devices and pods sold under the Juul name and training federal customs officials to catch them at ports of entry.
“We are taking aggressive actions against counterfeit and compatible products because they are a direct threat to our plan to combat youth usage,” said Joshua Raffel, a Juul Labs spokesman.