China Court Upholds Ruyan Patent on E-Cigs–Orders Others to Destroy Inventory

[section817]

all i gotta say is it aint far to hop to taiwan, i could see "Made in Taiwan" on new cartridge's/atomizers

[Zappa]

This just means the suppliers have to buy vans and deal in shady alleys.
No biggie.

[Cellmeister]

This Could Be Good News! (Me of all people saying that ?).

This Could Produce Some New & Better Designs with E-Cigs with The Manufacturers as Well As Adding In Some More Competition!

Lets Hope for the Better!!!

[TropicalBob]

This is a Magnitude 8 earthquake for e-smoking. Try to "spin" this all you want, but the China court says Ruyan is correct that it owns the patents to the vapor production method behind e-smoking. There might be a "better" vaporizing method that can be used in future products, but there isn't likely to be a cheaper one. So the ramifications of this decision are broad: You can pay Ruyan prices or you can wait for more expensive ultrasonic misters to arise from the ruins of E-Cig.

The Big Boys of Ripoff can pay Ruyan to use its patents, or fold their tents.

And Ruyan deserves the spoils of victory. It's the only company that has been properly testing the devices being sold the public.

[TribbleTrouble]

I believe that it will drive the competition out of China, but they will relocate their operations to another country where China cannot legally affect them. Now, if Ruyan were to get that same ruling in U.S. Court, then I would worry.

[TropicalBob]

Ruyan will sue anywhere and everywhere its patents are violated. It filed one suit awhile back against Njoy, but I'm note sure if that has been through the courts yet. There was yet another Ruyan patent enfringement suit in the U.S.

Ruyan is here to stay: Welcome to Ruyan America - Home of the Ruyan E-Cigarette

[dc2k08]

interesting that they choose to go after cixi e-cig first and not the factory who supplies their arch nemesis: Njoy. They recently had to settle a case out of court with Njoy who brought them to trial for slander. a Ruyan employee had told a casino owner that njoy were black market knock offs of their devices. Njoy presented their pending patent which they had recently filed in which they argue a different design and concept to similar patents already already listed. Ruyan were flummoxed. Maybe the n'er will be next. there's sure to be a few sweaty palms in e-cigville tonight.

I have long wondered and asked why Ruyan had not dominated the market more and why they they don't pursue infringement on their patents. I half-thought that perhaps their patent did not amount to anything or perhaps they were even behind some of the generic factories. They show very high profits in their annual reports but you rarely hear anyone owning one, bar the odd reviewer. their cigar sells but all that profit can't be just from cigar sales. I did feel sorry for them. They originated the concept but were out-sold by all. not sorry enough to buy one though.

maybe cixi e-cig will sell them on their trademarks if they ever owned any to recoup a little. having just set-up shop in Las Vegas - it must be some blow. You have to wonder what's behind the scenes - whether it was a fair trial or whether someone in Ruyan had an ally in .gov. What will happen next, we will all be waiting to see. manufacturers of the disposable models swear to me that they are a different concept to Ruyan's and that they hold the patent - but they all say that. still, who can really patent a hot wire. Do they all not infringe on the patent for fog-machines.

there are two types of patents I was told - design patent (how it looks) and technology patents (how it works) maybe Ruyan will only be able to go after the factories which produced a model based on their original pen-style. but they can be made look like anything. so maybe we'll see a blip, a lot of pants being pulled up and a wealth of new factories in eastern europe.

[surbitonPete]

Well as far as I can see..... there is now going to be a very long period when it's going to be almost impossible to get any replacement atomizers. This isn't the kind of thing that can be sorted out overnight. I don't think I want to risk making any more on-line payments for atomizers that may never come.

[billster88]

I think that if Ryuan had any teeth as far a patent infringement goes...they would have been jumping all over Njoy etc. ...Patent law in the West is much easier to uphold than in the far
East...The old saying about building a better mousetrap applies here methinks...the mousetrap is still a mousetrap...you can't patent an idea (so to speak) but you can patent a particular way a mousetrap works(Design, Function and Form) ...if we didn't have those laws in place we would be still in the beginning stages of the industrial age..and stuck there...I tend to think that if you can prove your patent is different enough to improve the product and also give credit to "prior Design" ...you should be ok..lets see what happens next with the Chinese Gov't and further court cases.

Cheers,
Bill

[taz3cat]

I find it interesting that Ruyan was complaining about health claims by the other manufactures. It appears they have done other studies besides the one in New Zealand.

I bet that law suit cost Ruyan a pretty penny.

I am going to be careful who I order from till this settles out. The sellers are going to have to be upfront about who they get their e-cigs from or we can't buy from tham, untill this gets settled. At least that is the way I see it. I don't want to buy something and not get it or never get any customer service.