NJOY has challenged nine patents owned by Juul Labs and its subsidiary VMR Products. After seven rulings, the patent holder has a slight lead. However, the tide could still turn, as the last two rulings in the battle over Juul Labs’ vaporizer technology are expected soon.
NJOY hopes to see nine patents concerning Juul Labs’ vaporizer technology removed from the market by the Unified Patent Court. It therefore filed corresponding revocation actions in September 2023. In the meantime, seven cases have been decided in the first instance.
The latest decision was handed down yesterday. As it stands, patent holder Juul Labs and its subsidiary VMR Products are now slightly ahead with four wins to NJOY’s three, according to JUVE patents.
As JUVE Patent has learned, the 2nd panel of the central division, consisting of presiding judge Paolo Catallozzi, Tatyana Zhilova and technically qualified judge Max Tilmann, rejected NJOY’s revocation claim against EP 3 613 453 and upheld the patent in amended form (case ID: UPC_CFI_310/2023). The court has not yet published the decision.
In contrast, two further decisions of the central division in the dispute are publicly accessible. On 21 January 2025, the 2nd panel ruled that EP 3 626 092 shall be maintained as granted. The panel rejected NJOY’s revocation claim (case ID: UPC_CFI 311/2023).
Just five days earlier on 17 January, the central division’s 1st panel revoked Juul Labs’ EP 3 430 921 (case ID: UPC CFI 316 /2023). The panel comprised presiding judge François Thomas and Maximilian Haedicke as well as Max Tilmann. All patents concern Juul Labs’ vaporizer technology.
But the battle is far from over. The two companies are also facing each other in US courts. The UPC central division heard all of NJOY’s revocation claims before Christmas. These concerned EP 092, EP 921, EP453, EP 3 504 989, and EP 3 504 990. After the latest rulings, the decisions on the validity of EP 989 and EP 990 are still pending but are expected shortly. The tide could turn again in favour of NJOY.
In any case, the dispute is likely to continue for some time. As JUVE patent has learned, parties have now filed appeals against some of the decisions published before Christmas.
