Altria Uses ITC Invalidity Ruling Against Juul Vape Patent Suit

Altria Group Inc. used a trade judge’s first-round decision invalidating Juul Labs Inc.’s nicotine-salt vaping patent to undercut parallel infringement claims in Arizona federal court over its NJoy Daily and Ace devices.

The notice, filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Arizona, came a day after Administrative Law Judge Doris Johnson Hines granted summary determination at the US International Trade Commission that all asserted claims of US Patent No. 12,156,533 are invalid. Altria didn’t explicitly make any arguments regarding the ITC’s early findings, but said it will file a copy of Hines’ order once it’s ...