RJ Reynolds Loses Patent Appeal In Star Scientific Case
10 March 2009 - 2:05AM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co., which is fighting a patent lawsuit by Star
Scientific Inc. (STSI).
Star Scientific is a developer of tobacco growing processes that
reduce carcinogens in tobacco products. The company sued R.J.
Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), alleging its
larger tobacco infringed on patents on tobacco curing processes
aimed at lower tobacco specific nitrosamines in tobacco plants.
R.J. Reynolds argued the Federal U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
a special federal patent court, had wrongly overturned a federal
trial judge's holding that it had not infringed on Star Scientific
patents. "The Federal Circuit decision here departs from common
sense," the company argued.
-By Mark H. Anderson, Dow Jones Newswires, 202 862-9254;
mark.anderson@dowjones.com