Tag: litigation

Plaintiffs Sought in RLX Technology Class-Action Suit
Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP are now seeking additional plaintiffs for a federal securities class action lawsuit that has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of investors that purchased RLX Technology Inc. The lawsuit was filed by Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP on behalf of investors.
The filed complaint alleges that the Registration Statement misrepresented and omitted, among other things, RLX’s exposure to China’s then-existing campaign to establish a national standard for e-cigarettes that would bring them into line with regular cigarette regulations, according to a press release.
“The truth was revealed when draft regulations were posted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, before the market opened on March 22, 2021, eight weeks after RLX’s IPO, which confirmed e-cigarettes and new tobacco products would be regulated similar to traditional tobacco offerings,” the release states.
Following the news out of China, the price of RLX’s shares suffered an enormous decline. On March 22, 2021, RLX’s ADR closed at $10.15 per share, down nearly 48 percent from its previous close of $19.46 on March 19, 2021, the previous trading day.
June 21, 2021
SCOTUS Denies Big Time Vapes a Review of Ruling
It’s over. After winding it’s way through the court system for nearly two years, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has denied Big Time Vapes a request for a writ of certiorari.
Credit: Sean Pavone Photo
On August 19, 2019, Big Time Vapes and United States Vaping Association, an e-cigarette manufacturer and an e-cigarette trade association, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authority over vaping products.
The original complaint was dismissed by the U.S. District Court in December 2019, and failed on appeal in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. On June 25th, 2020, the Court of Appeals issued its opinion, finding that Congress’ delegation of authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to deem additional products subject to the Tobacco Control Act is not unconstitutional, upholding the district court’s decision.
The nation’s highest court referred the case back to a lower court. Since the court did not accept the petition, the lower court’s decision will stand. SCOTUS accepts 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year, according to its website. It’s is the first petition for a case involving e-cigarettes to be considered by SCOTUS.
The suit challenges the Tobacco Control Act, claiming that Congress unconstitutionally ceded its legislative authority to the FDA when it gave the agency the power to “deem” products as tobacco products that were not specified in the 2009 legislation.
The FDA argued the Tobacco Control Act is constitutional, however, as “Congress laid out intelligible principles with appropriate boundaries for FDA to apply.” The FDA has also cited the public health issues posed by e-cigarettes, particularly to children, in defending the its authority to regulate the industry.
June 7, 2021
Altria, Juul Labs Antitrust Suit Continues This Week
The Altria Group antitrust trial continues this week over allegations made by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that company participated in anticompetitive practices ahead of its 2018 investment in e-cigarette startup Juul Labs.
Credit: Steheap
In opening remarks on Wednesday, the FTC argued that Altria pulled its vaping products off the U.S. market illegally at the insistence of Juul as the two companies were discussing a deal. Altria argued that its e-cigarettes were failures, and it jettisoned them amid regulatory pressure and an internal reckoning about the company’s inability to develop a vaping product that consumers liked, according to the Wall Street Journal.
If the FTC prevails, it could unwind Altria’s 35 percent interest in Juul Labs, which Altria bought in December 2018 for $12.8 billion. The agency is seeking to force Altria to divest its stake and terminate the companies’ noncompete agreement. The case is being heard by an administrative law judge, who will make an initial decision; the agency’s commissioners will then vote on the matter.
The FTC in April of last year sued to unwind the deal. The trial is taking place via teleconference at the agency’s office of administrative law judges. A key question at trial is why Altria, when it was in talks with Juul, stopped selling its own e-cigarettes. Altria’s explanations for exiting the e-cigarette market were pretexts, FTC attorney Stephen Rodger said in his opening remarks Wednesday. “But for the transaction, Altria would still be competing with [Juul] today.”
June 7, 2021
Judge Says RJR Vapor Products Infringe Fuma Patents
A North Carolina judge has ruled that R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s (RJR) Vuse Solo and Ciro e-cigarettes infringe patents owned by Medina, Ohio-based e-cigarette maker Fuma International. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles in Durham found Monday that RJR’s products infringed parts of both patents covering Fuma’s electronic-cigarette designs, but that one infringement question was best left for trial.
Fuma lead counsel Dirk Thomas of said in an email that the company is pleased with the ruling and “looks forward to presenting the rest of the case, including its damages claims, to the Judge and the jury,” a Reuters story states.
RJR spokesperson Kaelan Hollon said in an email 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. Fuma sued RJR in 2019 for infringing two of its patents that outline types of e-cigarettes made of a cartridge and power source.
According to Fuma’s complaint, RJR copied Fuma’s designs after meeting with Fuma about its e-cigarette technology in 2010. RJR introduced the Vuse Solo in 2013 and the Vuse Ciro in 2017. Vuse is one of the most popular e-cigarette brands in the country.
The parties only disputed whether Solo and Ciro included three relevant elements of the patents. 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 patents’ “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, remaining factual issues justified a trial on whether the Solo has the “electrically conductive threaded portion” from a Fuma patent. RJR provided enough evidence to show that the relevant part of its device may not be “threaded” under the patent’s definition, Eagles said.
May 27, 2021
Foundation for a Smoke-Free World Sued

Photo: Michal Kalasek | Dreamstime.com
A former employee of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World claims she was fired for raising concerns about the organization’s ties to the tobacco industry, reports Bloomberg Law.
Lourdes Liz, who worked at the Foundation as social media director from February 2018 until February 2020, says she was terminated after objecting to activities “designed to increase the profits of and to do the bidding of Philip Morris International and Altria Group.”
Liz maintains that the group’s close ties to the tobacco industry violate its status as an independent nonprofit organization.
The Foundation, which has received millions of dollars in funding from PMI, has met fierce opposition from health groups. Shortly after its creation in 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it would not interact with it, citing a fundamental conflict of interest between the tobacco industry and public health.
The Foundation is led by Derek Yach, an anti-smoking crusader who, while working at the WHO, was the primary architect of that agency’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
January 15, 2021
Soter Technologies Brings Suit for Vape Detector

Several companies were sued for their alleged infringement of a vape sensor patent. Soter Technologies, LLC claims its patent protects an invention, often used by schools, that detects vapor from e-cigarettes. IP Video Corporation, A+ Technology and Solutions, Inc., and Halo Smart Solutions Inc. are some of the named defendants, according to a story lawstreetmedia.com.
The case is being held in the Eastern District of New York.
The patent-in-suit is U.S. Patent No. 10,699,549 (the ‘549 patent), which protects the FlySense vapor detecting sensor device. According to the complaint, the FlySense is the first of its kind and protects “children by helping authorities control the vaping and bullying crisis facing today’s youth,” according to the story. The invention includes “a sensor system for detecting vaping and bullying including an air quality sensor configured to detect air quality, a sound detector configured to detect sounds and a network interface configured to transmit a signal indicating abnormality matching signature of vaping.”
Soter claimed that its patent was infringed upon by the HALO device designed by Halo Smart Solutions. According to a claims chart included in the complaint, the product similarly senses changes in air quality, includes a “controller configured to identify vaping based on the detected air quality,” and transmits “a signal indicating abnormality matching signature of vaping.” Soter also alleges that IP Video Corporation and A+ Technology and Solutions advertised the infringing HALO device on their websites.
July 14, 2020
Juul Labs Asks Federal Judge to Dismiss Lawsuits

Steveheap | Dreamstime.com
Juul Labs Inc has asked a federal judge to dismiss or pause hundreds of lawsuits alleging the e-cigarette manufacturer fueled a youth vaping epidemic, saying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decisions on how it markets its products deserve deference.
Juul, on May 29, asked a federal judge in San Francisco to stay hundreds of lawsuits by consumers and local governments alleging its marketing created a public health crisis while the FDA determines whether it may continue to market its products, according to Reuters.
June 3, 2020
Trade Commission to Probe Altria and PMI

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will investigate Altria and Philip Morris after a complaint was filed by R.J. Reynolds. The ITC will look into certain tobacco heating elements and components.
The ITC has not made a decision on the case but has said it will make its “final determination … at the earliest practicable time.”
May 13, 2020