Juul Moves to Axe Two NJoy E-Cigarette Patents Amid ITC Probes

Juul Labs Inc. urged the US Patent and Trademark Office to cancel two NJoy LLC e-cigarette patents at the center of an ongoing US International Trade Commission investigation that could block US imports of Juul devices.

Juul’s requests seeking inter partes review argued that the rival electronic cigarette company’s US Patent Nos. 11,497,864 and 10,334,881 covering electronic vaporizers should be canceled because most of their claims were well-known and three Chinese inventions render the patents invalid, according to the two challenges docketed at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Thursday.

NJoy, which was bought by Altria in March for ...