On August 27th, Altria Group and its operating company NJOY responded to the preliminary ruling by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) regarding a patent infringement lawsuit filed by JUUL Labs.
According to reports, last week an administrative judge issued a notification supporting JUUL's accusations in a lawsuit and recommended issuing an exclusion order to ban NJOY ACE products from being imported into the United States.
Occhia and NJOY both expressed respect for the preliminary ruling, but disagreed with it. NJOY looks forward to presenting its position to the full ITC committee, which is expected to make a final decision on December 23 of this year.
In August of this year, NJOY filed a similar and independent patent infringement lawsuit against ITC, seeking to ban the import and sale of JUUL products in the United States. The hearing for this case is scheduled for June 2024, with a preliminary ruling expected to be issued by the end of September this year. It is worth noting that even if a favorable ruling is obtained in this case, it will not prevent the injunction against ACE products from taking effect.
Currently, all parties have attempted mediation through a mediator, and Ochiai has promised to work towards resolving the issue.
Furthermore, NJOY recently submitted a substantial equivalence (SE) exemption request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow it to sell modified ACE products, which the company believes can bypass three of the four JUUL patents involved in this case.
It is worth noting that ACE is the first pod-based electronic vaping product and the only mint-flavored pod electronic vaping product approved by the FDA that is suitable for protecting public health.
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