RJ Reynolds Victorious in Patent Case
June 16, 2009 by Mark Ellis
Filed under Business
Expect sour grapes from Star Scientific Inc. in the coming days, as the tobacco company just emerged as the loser in a huge lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Although Star Scientific Claimed that R.J. Reynolds infringed on its patents, a Baltimore jury found that R.J. Reynolds had done no such thing.
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This means that R.J. Reynolds will not be have to pay the hundreds of millions of dollars that Star Scientific sought in damages for the perceived infringement of R.J. Reynolds upon a new tobacco curing method that removes more cancer-causing chemicals. It also means that Star Scientific will also have to head into recovery mode, as the verdict caused its stocks to tumble 80 percent.
According to RJR at trial, the tobacco giant invented its own method of accomplishing the same exact thing as Star and that it did not need to copy the plans. RJR also questioned Star’s attitude throughout the trial, deriding its tendency to play the victim and the benefactor.
