What many electronic cigarette users have feared from day one may be in the works
Jump to full article: OfficialWire, 2009-11-23
Author: Jeff Smith
Intro: Philip Morris, the biggest maker of tobacco cigarettes in the US, has been discovered to be in talks with Ruyan Group, which manufactured the original electronic cigarette several years back in 2005. A news article found on Quamnet.com states the seriousness of the matter:
"Ruyan Group said that an agreement between the Company and Philip Morris International Management S.A. could not be reached on matters relating to the co-operation between them on its "electronic cigarettes" by the end of the first and exclusive phase of negotiations."
As the FDA has been given authority recently over the tobacco industry, the move by Philip Morris could be a carefully calculated move to gain controlling interest over the products inside the US and abroad. The motives of the manufacturer are not clear at this point, but many speculate everything from shutting the industry down by acquiring the rights to it all the way to quite possibly launching its own electronic cigarette product and taking it mainstream. . . .
What this could mean for the electronic cigarette industry both internationally and in the US is uncertain, but what seems to be clear is: Philip Morris wants in.
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