DICAPRIO, Calif.
— A company based in California that sells an e-cig that turns your cigarette into a portable vaporizer has filed a lawsuit against the company that makes it.
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the National Coalition for Tobacco Free Kids, a nonprofit organization that advocates for smoking cessation, says it is a “biggest cigarette company in the world” and has the right to prevent consumers from buying the devices.
The lawsuit seeks $1 billion in damages and is being brought on behalf of a small number of manufacturers.
“They’re trying to make the products illegal and prevent people from buying them,” said Dan Schreiber, a lawyer for the group.
The National Coalition filed a complaint with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) earlier this month in a bid to block the sale of the device known as the “biggies.”
The group claims the device infringes on several of the company’s trademarks, including the word “dicaprio,” the brand name for cigarettes, and the word for cigarette.
In response, the USPTO has issued a warning against the devices, saying it would take action if it deemed the products to be counterfeit.
But the National Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says it has received no such warning.
“We are just trying to stop the cigarettes from being sold, and we don’t think we have to do that,” Schreib said.
The group says the Biggies are more than just a way to vape.
“This is a way of doing something to a cigarette, and to an electronic cigarette,” Schriber said.
In an email to the Associated Press, the Biggs said their products have helped people quit smoking and help people to control their cravings for cigarettes.
They also say the products help people avoid the use of the tobacco that is responsible for nearly a third of all deaths in the U.S. More than 80 percent of the devices sold in the United States have no medical purpose, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The Biggs have been selling the devices in California for about a year.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, the group said its products are “designed to make you smoke less and help you quit”.
“We believe these devices can help people quit their addiction to tobacco cigarettes,” it said.
“We also believe they are safe for your health, because they do not contain nicotine, and they don’t contain tar, which is addictive.”
The Biggys have raised more than $100,000 to help finance the legal fight.
We need to stop Biggie sales, the campaign said.
We are not trying to kill smokers, we are trying to save lives.
The Biggigs say the devices can provide relief from cravings, and help smokers quit by giving them a sense of pleasure.
In December, the U,S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a brand of e-cigarettes called the Smokestack that is manufactured by British-based device maker VaporVape, which has since been acquired by a company called Nootrobox.
The FDA has since approved a variety of other devices, including e-cigs that resemble the BigGies, and a device called a VapeBox that is sold by another company, Smokethack.
In July, the FDA approved a new tobacco product called the e-Juice, made by the tobacco company Altria Group.
Altria has said it intends to introduce the ejuice to the market in 2018.
