The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has upheld a judge’s ruling that cleared Juul Labs of infringement in a case initiated by Altria-owned NJOY over several vaping patents.
In January, Administrative Law Judge Doris Johnson Hines determined that Juul’s importation of vaping products did not breach Section 337 of the Tariff Act—an allegation stemming from claims that Juul Labs violated two patents covering vaping technologies.
In a concise, three-page decision, the ITC revisited the noninfringement ruling to correct a citation in the original determination.
The judge concluded that NJOY “did not satisfy the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement, which requires the complainant to show that it has made significant investment in products protected by the patent.”
Addressing the economic prong, the ITC stated it would “take no position on these findings,” and opted not to reexamine the judge’s broader decision, including the verdict that Juul did not violate Section 337.
The investigation by the ITC covered Juul’s range of “electronic nicotine delivery systems” along with their associated cartridges or pods, and the components that comprise these pods, such as “atomizers, subassemblies, devices subassemblies, [and] chargers,” as detailed in court filings.
