On September 8, 2016, at European Patent Office (EPO) located in Munich, Joyetech GmbH, alongside a few ecig companies, collectively succeeded with patent revocation against EP 2022349 patent held by Fontem Ventures.
Fontem Ventures is a subsidiary of tobacco company Imperial Tobacco, the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company. Dating back to 2013, Imperial Tobacco bought the original e-cigarette patents from Hon Lik, father of the modern e-cigs, this is what Imperial Tobacco is basing its copyright infringement lawsuits on.
The result of this case has a significant influence on the development of the whole e-cigarette industry around the world. We all know vaping is much more healthy than smoking traditional tobacco. Imagine if Fontem Ventures had won, they would charge every user of e-cigarette product for the patent fee. It would be devastating if the traditional tobacco company sells tobacco and also controls e-cigarettes industry.
We will definitely fight together and try our best to create a bright future for the whole e-cigarette industry. Keep vaping, keep fighting!
EP 2022349 patent:
http://www.google.com/patents/EP2022349A1?cl=en
https://www.google.com/patents/EP2022349B1?cl=en29
Fontem Ventures is a subsidiary of tobacco company Imperial Tobacco, the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company. Dating back to 2013, Imperial Tobacco bought the original e-cigarette patents from Hon Lik, father of the modern e-cigs, this is what Imperial Tobacco is basing its copyright infringement lawsuits on.
The result of this case has a significant influence on the development of the whole e-cigarette industry around the world. We all know vaping is much more healthy than smoking traditional tobacco. Imagine if Fontem Ventures had won, they would charge every user of e-cigarette product for the patent fee. It would be devastating if the traditional tobacco company sells tobacco and also controls e-cigarettes industry.
We will definitely fight together and try our best to create a bright future for the whole e-cigarette industry. Keep vaping, keep fighting!
EP 2022349 patent:
http://www.google.com/patents/EP2022349A1?cl=en
https://www.google.com/patents/EP2022349B1?cl=en29
