Electronic cigarette sales have been on the rise due to an increase in public smoking bans.

UK tobacco company starts patent dispute over electronic cigarettes

March 19, 2014 12:11 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

Lorillard Inc., Vapor Corp. and NJOY Inc. are among nine U.S. manufacturers of electronic cigarettes that have been sued by Fontem Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Group. The Financial Times reports that the e-cigarette market, currently controlled by smaller players, is a $3 billion global business that bigger tobacco companies have been slow to get into.

Sales of electronic cigarettes have been on the rise due to an increase in public smoking bans, according to Marketwatch. Bloomberg Industries projects that by 2023, traditional tobacco sales could be surpassed by e-cigarettes.

Electronic cigarettes work by vaporizing liquid that is laced with nicotine for inhalation. These types of cigarettes are believed to be safer to use than traditional cigarettes and have been growing in popularity due to safety reasons and an ability to smoke them in places where traditional cigarettes have been banned.

Although there are patents for a smokeless cigarette dating back as far as the 1960s, this legal dispute stems from patents filed by Hong Lik, a Chinese pharmacist whose company was purchased by UK-based Imperial Tobacco last year. Lik is credited with the invention of the electronic cigarette.

Marc Michelsen, the director of communications and corporate ventures for Fontem Ventures, said the lawsuit has been filed to protect against infringement of the company's patents:

"The reason for filing this lawsuit is to protect our intellectual property and seek fair compensation for the infringements of our patents," said Michelsen.

If you're a small business owner, you need to know your rights when it comes to intellectual property law. If your business is a startup, you need to know what to do to protect your intellectual property from potential patent lawsuits. A small business attorney can provide expert counsel on exactly what you need to do to ensure the safety of your ideas.

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