Jump to full article: Dow Jones News Service, 2009-06-15
Intro: Lawyers for Star Scientific Inc. (STSI) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. made their final bid Monday to sway jurors in a high-stakes case involving Star's patent claim to a new tobacco-curing method that substantially reduces the formation of certain cancer-causing toxins.
Star, which is seeking several hundred million dollars from RJR for patent infringement, said its patented method for reducing certain toxins in cured tobacco, known as tobacco specific nitrosamines, was a revolution in the tobacco industry.
"Nobody could believe it," Star lawyer Richard McMillan said in his closing argument to jurors. "It was completely surprising to the industry."
McMillan said RJR, a unit of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), "got wind" of the small company's patent and encouraged its farmers to practice Star's invention without permission.
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