The vaping industry has recently been the site of resounding legal proceedings related to intellectual property violations. Some e-cigarette or e-liquid manufacturers don’t hesitate to use names or designs of famous brands. And they just don’t care about intellectual property rules. Brands such as Cocal Cola, Chupa Chups, Lutti and Ferrero have launched legal battles. Their goal is to prevent unscrupulous vaping professionals from using their name. For these vaping manufacturers, the use of famous names enables them to increase the attractiveness of their products. And to develop their sales. 

Here is one of the latest examples. The material manufacturer Vaporesso is accused by Zippo of plagiarizing their proprietary lighters. Zippo decided to tackle the problem by directly contacting stores that are distributing the Vaporesso product.

The Wrigley case

As for e-liquids, Wrigley, the owner of the Doublemint and Juicy Fruit brands has decided to sue an e-liquid manufacturer, Robert Wilson and his two companies Chi-Town Vapers and Chi-Town Labs. Robert Wilson is far from a beginner in this matter. He’s used in the past other famous brands such as Nutella, Red Bull, Kahlua or Skittles to promote his products. Wrigley contacted the company for the first time in 2014 for a fraudulent use of the Skittles brand. Wilson then took the products down for a few months. But in 2015, they were back on the shelves with slight packaging and branding alterations.

For Wrigley, there is no doubt that Wilson is ill-intentioned, which is why they have decided to go to court.