European patent officials have rejected a challenge from a British American Tobacco (BAT) subsidiary, allowing Philip Morris International (PMI) to retain its patent for a power supply system used in electronic vaping devices.
PMI’s patent details a power supply system for an e-vaping device, incorporating a sensor and sensor holder designed to regulate airflow and house the power source.
Nicoventures, a BAT subsidiary, argued that the patent lacked novelty, claiming it mirrored features found in three earlier patents related to its Vuse Solo device. The company asserted that prior patents included elements that functioned similarly to the sensor holder described in PMI’s design.
However, in a February 20 ruling, published on March 5, the European Patent Office’s appellate board upheld a previous decision dismissing Nicoventures’ challenge, concluding that PMI’s design contains a unique structural element.
“The board concurs with the respondent’s arguments [that] the structure of the e-vaping device in [the older inventions] and the patent are not identical,” stated the Technical Board of Appeal.
PMI also argued that Nicoventures had not provided sufficient evidence proving that Vuse Solo was publicly available before PMI filed its own patent application. As a result, Nicoventures could not claim the design was not new.
