Juul Labs and its Canadian affiliate, Juul Labs Canada, have filed litigation against a global network of entities and individuals that illegally sourced and resold authentic Juul pods and devices worldwide.
Among the main targets of its legal action are the purveyors of the PodVapes and PodMaster websites, entities based in Canada that acquired Juul products from the U.K., Canada and the U.S. to ship all over the world.
PodVapes, for example, acquired authentic Juul pods from Canada and the U.K. in nontobacco and nonmenthol flavors and shipped them into various states in the U.S. to be illegally resold, according to Juul Labs.
“Through investigations, we have confirmed that PodVapes actively sells diverted Juul pod packs into the U.S.,” Juul Labs wrote in a statement. “PodVapes also shipped Juul devices that were explicitly developed for non-U.S. markets into the U.S. in violation of FDA laws and regulations.”
Juul Labs says evidence of this illicit activity first started to emerge in February 2019. While sales of diverted products were first noticed in the markets of New Zealand and Australia by websites facing those countries, the sales quickly spread to websites facing the U.K. and U.S. and, most recently, Canada.
“As Juul Labs continues to reset the category, it is imperative that the company acts as a responsible partner to regulators and other stakeholders around the world, wherever our products are sold,” Juul Labs stated. “We are committed to aggressively going after bad actors in the vapor category and helping to ensure a responsible marketplace for adult smokers seeking legal alternatives to combustible cigarettes.”