It’s open season for LIP cigarette papers in many European markets now as SWM’s patent expires.
Schweitzer-Mauduit International’s patent for low propensity cigarette paper expired recently in many European countries, opening new opportunities for cigarette and paper manufacturers.
EP 1 482 815, which protects SWM’s lower ignition propensity (LIP) cigarette paper, expired in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Czechia, and Portugal this January.
Prior to this, there were only a few suppliers of LIP papers, largely because of SWM’s patent. One example is delfort, who, after a lengthy litigation battle with SWM, in 2011 entered a non-exclusive patent license agreement for SWM's patent portfolio covering the production and distribution of print banded LIP globally for as long as SWM’s patents were valid.
Another company, Julius Glatz, was forced out of the LIP market for four years due to a patent dispute with SWM that Julius Glatz eventually won, after a six-year legal battle which started in 2015 when SWM sued Julius Glatz alleging Julius Glatz’s Cigla cigarette papers infringed its patents. Julius Glatz ended up having to shutdown production of the disputed papers, closing facilities, and laying-off staff. Julius Glatz filed a nullity lawsuit in Germany in the fall of 2017 and the Federal Patent Court nullified the German part of EP 815 in the parts relevant to infringement proceedings running in parallel due to lack of inventive step in October 2019. SWM appealed, but in October 2021 the German Federal Court of Justice upheld the initial ruling. Julius Glatz sued SWM for almost €40 million in compensation and resumed LIP production last year.
Now, with SWM’s EP 1 482 815 patent having expired in various European countries, other paper manufacturers are at the ready with their LIP products to supply these markets, providing cigarette manufacturers with more LIP choices.