The U.S. International Trade Commission is moving forward on plans to examine and investigate complaints filed by Shenzhen Smoore. Smoore holds patents for numerous cannabis vape technoloies and is one of the first companies to create and sell vapor products across the international market.
In the complaint, Smoore lists 38 companies based in the U.S.A., Canada, Hong Kong, and Switzerland that have been importing products into the United States, and that allegedly violate their ceramic patents. They allege that the designs of these products are in violation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and are attempting to pass off their products as part of Smoore’s portfolio.
It seems the ITC agrees, as a string of new investigations were announced Thursday. Should the ITC find evidence of trademark violation, it will mean a large portion of the ceramic vaporizer cartridges outside of Smoore’s production will be banned from import into the United States, along with a ban on their sale.
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While Smoore describes their products as the “gold standard of vaporizer offerings,” we can’t help but wonder how this will impact market variety. The upside is that domestic companies and importers alike will have to develop new and more effective ways of producing compelling vaporizer products if they wish to compete in the global market.
WHAT IS THE TECHNOLOGY IN A CANNABIS CARTRIDGE?
Ceramic coil heating technology, commonly used in cannabis vape pens, implements a ceramic core with a coil-embedded heating element. Each cartridge is manufactured with an array of extremely small inlet holes to provide full vaporization and proper flow. This porosity along with the uniform heat distribution of the ceramic heating element has created an affordable and highly efficient way to vaporize virtually all forms of cannabis concentrates and extracts.
