Juul Launches Legal Fight Against Black Market Vaping Cartridges

Juul Labs Inc. launched an aggressive legal campaign to halt what it calls a “seemingly endless stream” of black market cartridges for its e-cigarettes.

The vaping company filed a patent-infringement complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, naming more than four dozen companies it says are importing copycat cartridges for the e-cigarettes. It’s seeking a blanket order that would block imports of any unauthorized cartridges.

The complaint -- as well as some four-dozen patent-infringement lawsuits filed in federal courts around the U.S. over the past few days -- are part of what the San Francisco-based company paints as an effort to curtail sometimes dangerous products. Juul Chief Executive Officer K.C. Crosthwaite has pledged to repair the image of the embattled company, which was at the center of a debate over whether e-cigarettes should exist at all.

“This new ITC action, if successful, would provide the additional public benefit of helping rid the market of unauthorized Juul-compatible products that can be modified by the user, such as empty and refillable pods, or those containing substances such as THC for which the Juul system was not designed,” Juul said in a statement.

Juul has stopped advertising products in the U.S. and halted sales of sweet nicotine flavors that public-health advocates say can attract younger users. The company’s market value has plunged during the controversy over the vaping epidemic. Juul needs to show it’s addressing critics as it prepares to submit an application later this year asking the Food and Drug Administration to let it remain on the market.