JLI National Settlement Trust

The JLI National Settlement Trust is a Delaware statutory trust established on December 6, 2022. It was created as part of a class settlement agreement to resolve actions, disputes, and claims against Juul Labs, Inc. (JLI) and other released parties concerning the design, manufacture, promotion, distribution, sale, use, and performance of JUUL products. The Trust's primary function is to manage and disburse funds from settlements reached in extensive litigation alleging that JUUL products were unlawfully marketed to minors and that consumers paid more due to misleading information about addictiveness and safety.

The Trust's operations are solely focused on administering these settlement funds. It does not engage in product manufacturing, sales, or other commercial activities. The settlement agreements involve substantial financial allocations, with hundreds of millions of dollars designated for various initiatives, including compensating purchasers, funding youth vaping prevention and cessation programs, and supporting public health campaigns.

In terms of patent litigation posture, the JLI National Settlement Trust appears as a defendant in the single tracked case, "Unified Patents v. JLI National Settlement Trust" before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). This indicates that the Trust is primarily a defensive litigant in the patent space, responding to challenges rather than actively asserting patent portfolios. Unified Patents is known for challenging patents to reduce patent troll assertions.

The specific case involving Unified Patents against JLI National Settlement Trust at the PTAB is likely an inter partes review (IPR) challenging the validity of a patent held by the Trust. Such challenges are common strategies employed by entities like Unified Patents to invalidate patents that may be used in assertion campaigns. The broader context for the Trust's existence stems from the significant multidistrict litigation (MDL) against JUUL Labs, Inc., which resulted in substantial settlements to address claims related to youth vaping and deceptive marketing practices.