Two BAT patents revoked in heat-not-burn cigarette battle from wisepowder's blog

Two BAT patents revoked in heat-not-burn cigarette battle



The global dispute between Philip Morris and British American Tobacco over heat-not-burn cigarette technology is intensifying. Yesterday, the UK High Court announced the revocation of two patents belonging to BAT. Now all eyes are on the results of parallel proceedings happening across Europe and in the US.To get more news about Heat not burn, you can visit hitaste.net official website.

In a judgment handed down yesterday, the UK High Court revoked two patents belonging to tobacco product manufacturer British American Tobacco (case no: HP-2020-000012.) The revocation is part of a high-stakes global dispute between BAT and rival Philip Morris, concerning lucrative technology for heat-not-burn cigarettes.

Since the High Court found the patents invalid, it also dismissed BAT’s claim of infringement. However, the judge acknowledged that had he found the two patents valid, Philip Morris would have infringed them.The judgment describes heat-not-burn cigarette technology as “tobacco [being] primarily heated… to generate a nicotine-containing aerosol with potentially lower toxicant emissions compared to a combustible cigarette.” This in comparison to a conventional cigarette, in which the tobacco burns to create the nicotine-containing aerosol.

Heat-not-burn technology differs to vaping, which uses a battery-powered heating device to vaporise a liquid, flavoured or otherwise, in a reservoir. Philip Morris is concentrating solely on expanding its heat-not-burn cigarette business; the company invested over eight billion dollars into its ICOS system, which it has launched in several countries.

On the other hand, BAT is focused on continuing to offer consumers a mixture of smoking paraphernalia. This includes vapes, e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco products.The global dispute broke out in 2018, when Philip Morris launched a patent infringement action in Japan against BAT’s heated tobacco products. In spring 2020 BAT hit back, suing Philip Morris at the International Trade Commission (ITC) in the US.

BAT subsidiary Nicoventures Trading also filed a patent infringement suit against Philip Morris at the Regional Court in Munich, and in the UK. Nicoventures develops and distributes novel nicotine products for BAT, sold under brand name Glo. However, following this move in Germany, Philip Morris responded by filing a revocation action at the UK court.

Former High Court presiding judge Colin Birss expedited the proceeding to February 2021 for ‘commercial reasons’, and to ensure the UK hearing happened prior to the parallel German infringement proceedings.

In Munich, both EP 460 and EP 944 are also in dispute, although the Munich court has moved the oral hearing concerning EP 460 back to November 2021. Before this, however, the EPO will decide on an opposition against the patent in mid-June.