Altria must stop selling IQOS device after trade commission ruling | Business News
The IQOS stores have been closed in compliance with the ITC order, a spokesperson for Altria said Tuesday.
“We’re disappointed in this decision, as IQOS is the only inhalable tobacco product to have received FDA authorization as a modified risk tobacco product,” Altria said in a statement. “The ITC’s importation ban makes the product unavailable for all consumers who have switched to IQOS, reduces the options for the over 20 million smokers looking for alternatives to cigarettes, and ultimately is detrimental to the public health.”
A complaint filed in April 2020 claims that the IQOS device infringes on patents held by R.J. Reynolds’ parent company, British American Tobacco PLC, that were issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office between November 2012 and December 2019.
“We continue to believe that the plaintiff’s patents are invalid and that IQOS does not infringe on those patents,” Altria said in its statement. “We’re…
