British American Tobacco (BAT) has filed patent suits against Philip Morris International (PMI) in the US and Germany, alleging that the tobacco heating technology used in PMI’s IQOS devices infringed BAT’s patents.
BAT said it had filed two patent infringement claims in the US against PMI, one through the International Trade Commission (ITC) and one in the Virginia federal court, seeking remedies for damages caused and an injunction on importing the product.
The focus of the lawsuits is the heating blade technology used in IQOS devices, which BAT said was an earlier version of the technology currently being used in its glo tobacco heating devices. BAT plans to launch its glo range of products in Germany this year.
Both US lawsuits will run separately and the courts’ decisions are not dependent on one another, BAT said.BAT is currently challenging the validity of a Philip Morris’ patent in the UK, in response to a lawsuit filed against BAT by PMI in Japan.