LIP Patent Ruling Will Increase Competition

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 02/07/2012

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) last week upheld LIP cigarette paper patents held by Julius Glatz and LIPtec. The patents had been challenged by Schweitzer-Mauduit (SWM). On February 1, ITC Administrative Law Judge, E. James Gildea, rejected SWM's allegations that LIP papers made by Glatz and LIPtec of Neidenfels, Germany (and sold in the US by KneX Worldwide LLC), infringed valid claims of two SWM patents and that the papers should therefore be excluded from the US market. Judge Gildea's initial determination concluded that all the asserted claims of SWM's US Patents 5,878,753 and 6,725,867 were either invalid or did not cover Glatz's and LIPtec's LIP papers. The defendants were represented by attorneys Rudy Hutz, Jeff Eichen, Chad Stover, Curt Lambert and Claudia Schultze of Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz LLP. "We are very pleased with the favorable outcome for Glatz and LIPtec,' said Hutz upon hearing of the ruling. "Glatz and LIPtec worked very hard over many years to develop their own unique LIP technology. "This is a major victory for the companies and also for the cigarette industry in general. "Glatz and LIPtec have seen a strongly increasing interest in their LIP cigarette wrappers in all major markets. Cigarette makers should now enjoy the benefits of greater competition from alternative suppliers of these important, fire-reducing LIP papers, free from interference from Schweitzer.' Enditem