Tag: RJR Vapor

  • Healthier Choices Files Patent Suit Against RJR Vapor

    Healthier Choices Files Patent Suit Against RJR Vapor

    Healthier Choices Management Corp. sued RJ Reynolds Vapor Co. seeking royalties from sales of its Vuse Alto vape pens, chargers, and pre-filled liquid pods, alleging the products infringe a patent for vaping products.

    Hollywood, Fla.-based HCMC said the British American Tobacco Plc’s subsidiary and its Vuse Alto products infringe US Patent No. 9,538,788, according to a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, according to Bloomberg.

    The patent, which Bloomberg Law estimates will expire in July 2034, is among 16 HCMC owns that are related to its Q-Unit, Qwik-T, and Qwik-G heating devices, mouthpieces, and related vape hardware.

  • E-Cig Market Gap Between Juul, Vuse Continues to Close

    E-Cig Market Gap Between Juul, Vuse Continues to Close

    The market-share gap between the top-selling U.S. electronic cigarettes has shrunk over the past month with Juul holding about a 4.2-percentage point gap over R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s Vuse.

    The latest Nielsen analysis of convenience store data, covering the four-week period ending Feb. 12, determined Juul was at 37.9percent market share and Vuse at 33.7 percent, according to Winston-Salem Journal.

    There has been a 4- to 4.8-percentage point gap between the two e-cigarettes for the last six Nielsen reports.

    NJoy was at 3.2 percent, up from 3.1 percent in the previous report, while Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs rose from 2.3 percent to 2.4 percent.

    E-cigarette sales overall have slumped since February 2020, when the Food and Drug Administration implemented its latest round of heightened regulations on the products.

    Those restrictions foremost required manufacturers of cartridge-based e-cigarettes, such as Juul Labs Inc., Reynolds Vapor, NJoy and Fontem, to stop making, distributing and selling “unauthorized flavorings” in February 2021, or risk enforcement actions.

    Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog said another factor in the slump is “the impact of e-cigarette market denial orders by the FDA as it continues to work through premarket tobacco applications.”

  • Vuse Wins SEAL Sustainable Product Award

    Vuse Wins SEAL Sustainable Product Award

    Photo: BAT

    The Vuse e-cigarette brand has won the Sustainable Product Award in the 2021 SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement and Leadership) Business Sustainability Awards. The award recognizes innovative and impactful products that are “purpose-built for a sustainable future.”
     
    The SEAL Awards celebrate leadership through business sustainability and environmental journalism awards.
     
    “We are honored to receive this SEAL Sustainable Product Award for our Vuse vapor brand,” said Kingsley Wheaton, BAT’s chief marketing officer, in statement.

    “At BAT, we are creating the brands of the future with sustainability at their core. In 2021, Vuse was certified as the first global carbon neutral vape brand. This is part of Vuse’s broader sustainability program, which aims to eliminate single-use plastics and have all packaging recyclable by 2025.
     
    “We are proud that Vuse has set the sustainability standard within the vaping category.”

  • Reynold’s Settles Vuse Patent Suit Days Before Trial Starts

    Reynold’s Settles Vuse Patent Suit Days Before Trial Starts

    R.J. Reynolds (RJR) has settled an e-cigarette manufacturer’s claims that Reynold’s Vuse products infringed on the manufacturer’s e-cigarette patents. RJR, a BAT subsidiary, settled the suit just four days before the trial was slated to begin, according to a Thursday filing in North Carolina federal court.

    Credit: MD3D

    U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles found in May that RJR’s products infringed parts of two Fuma International’s patents. A jury in Greensboro, N.C., was set to consider on Monday whether RJR infringed additional parts of one of the patents, whether the patents were valid, and what damages RJR owed, among other things, according to Reuters.

    Fuma sued Winston-Salem, N.C.-based RJR in 2019 for infringing patents related to an e-cigarette design with a cartridge and power source. The complaint said RJR copied Medina, Ohio-based Fuma’s design after meeting with Fuma about its e-cigarette technology in 2010.

    Fuma was asking for up to $135 million in damages, according to court filings.

    Vuse is one of the most popular e-cigarette brands in the country. 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.

  • Judge Says RJR Vapor Products Infringe Fuma Patents

    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.