Juul Gets ITC to Review Early Ruling That Nixed Vape Patent

The US International Trade Commission will review a trade judge’s first-round decision invalidating a nicotine-salt vaping patent Juul Labs Inc. is using in a bid to block imports of Altria Group Inc.'s NJoy Daily and Ace devices.

The full commission said in a May 29 notice that it will review Administrative Law Judge Doris Johnson Hines’s April 14 summary determination, which found products sold in March 2013 by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., a unit of British American Tobacco Plc, anticipated every asserted claim of Juul’s US Patent No. 12,156,533.

Juul sued Altria in August in Arizona federal ...