JUUL Labs is facing a new patent infringement lawsuit over JUUL and JUUL2, less than a week after federal regulators cleared the second-generation device for U.S. marketing.
AJ Marketing LLC filed the case on Sept. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The federal docket lists the dispute as a patent case under 35 U.S.C. § 271 and identifies U.S. Patent No. 8,851,068 as the patent at issue. AJ Marketing demanded a jury trial.
The timing is unusually neat. On Aug. 28, the Food and Drug Administration announced marketing authorization for the JUUL2 device and tobacco- and menthol-flavored JUUL2 pods through the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway. FDA said its review found that a substantial proportion of adults who smoke completely switched to the authorized JUUL2 products.
AJ Marketing’s patent predates JUUL’s original pod vape. The issued patent, titled “Personal Inhalation Devices,” was filed in August 2010 and issued on Oct. 7, 2014. Inventors Scott A. Cohen and Michael J. Bedecs assigned the patent to AJ Marketing.
The patent describes an inhalation device with an atomizing unit, a reservoir containing a deliverable, and electronics that can meter what is delivered during a puff. Its specification lists nicotine, caffeine, medications, vitamins, and—in jurisdictions where permitted—THC as possible deliverables. It also describes a “military mode” that could alter caffeine dosing according to mission parameters.
According to Vaping Post’s report on the complaint, AJ Marketing alleges that both JUUL generations infringe the patent and seeks past and continuing royalties. The report says the complaint does not request an injunction that would block JUUL2 sales. JUUL had not filed a response when the case was reported.
Patent litigation is hardly new territory for JUUL. The company filed a 2025 International Trade Commission complaint against NJOY and Altria over competing vapor products. The ITC opened that investigation in September 2025. NJOY and Altria later filed their own complaint against JUUL, and the ITC opened the competing case in December.
This case is different because AJ Marketing is not another major vape manufacturer fighting over market share. For JUUL, the problem is simpler: its newly authorized platform has entered the U.S. market with a fresh legal target on its back.
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