The U.S. Court of Appeals for the federal circuit overturned a previous ruling in favour of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco on Monday in a patent lawsuit filed by Star Scientific.

Virginia-based Star Scientific filed suit in 2001, alleging that R.J. Reynolds, a subsidiary of Winston-Salem-based Reynolds American, had infringed upon patents relating to a process to cure tobacco that reduces carcinogens in cigarettes. But a lower court ruled in 2007 that the Star Scientific patents were unenforceable, as RJR had argued.
According to the appeals court ruling, the case returns to district court in Maryland for further proceedings. (pi)