Tobacco Science: Star Scientific Patent Claims Confirmed

(Star Scientific) Star Scientific, Inc. (Nasdaq: CIGX) announced that its patent counsel, Banner & Witcoff, has received two notices and letters from the United States Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) confirming the validity of each of the claims involved in the reexamination of the '649 and '401 patents. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, Inc. (RJR) filed requests for reexamination of these patents with the PTO in January, 2009. ... The '649 and '401 patents, which issued in 2001 and 2002, cover the tobacco-leaf curing process in a manner that largely prevents bacterial activity in the tobacco leaf. That activity results in the formation of tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), a group of carcinogens that have been identified for decades by researchers worldwide as one of the most lethal and abundant toxins in tobacco leaf and smoke. The StarCured(R) process, as described in the 649 and 401 patents, results in tobacco leaf with TSNA levels that Star believes are the lowest found anywhere in the world. The company more recently filed a patent application, in December 2008, for a further innovated curing process that results in TSNA levels in the tobacco leaf are below levels of detection by conventional standards of measure. Continued