Altria Escalates Court Bid to End Juul’s ITC Vape Patent Probe

Altria Group Inc. urged a Virginia federal judge to immediately shut down a probe seeking to block imports of its NJoy units’ vaping devices, arguing the US International Trade Commission lacks constitutional authority to hear Juul Labs Inc.’s nicotine-salt patent claims.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia now has everything it needs to decide the constitutional dispute and end the ITC investigation outright, rather than allow the agency’s proceedings to continue while the challenge is litigated, Altria said in a reply Tuesday supporting its motion for judgment that the proceeding is unconstitutional.

The e-cigarette rivals’ feud ...