Reynolds American Inc

Reynolds American Inc. is a major American tobacco company headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Formed in 2004, it operates as an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT) following a 2017 acquisition. Reynolds American is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, with a workforce estimated to be between 4,000 and 6,000 employees and annual revenues in the tens of billions of dollars.

The company's subsidiaries manufacture and market a wide portfolio of tobacco and nicotine products. Its offerings include some of the nation's best-selling combustible cigarette brands, such as Newport, Camel, Pall Mall, and Natural American Spirit. In the smokeless tobacco category, its key brands include Grizzly and Kodiak. Reynolds American is also a significant player in the electronic cigarette market through its R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company subsidiary, which markets the Vuse line of vapor products.

As a major operating company, Reynolds American actively engages in patent litigation to protect its products. The company's litigation record in the database shows it acting as a plaintiff without any tracked cases as a defendant, indicating a strategy of enforcing its intellectual property rights. The single tracked case was filed in the Delaware District Court.

That case, initiated in April 2026, is Reynolds American Inc v. VPR Brands. More specifically, court filings show the plaintiff as R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company, a subsidiary of Reynolds American. The company is seeking a declaratory judgment that its Vuse brand e-cigarette products do not infringe a patent held by VPR Brands related to auto-draw vaporizer technology. According to the complaint, Reynolds filed the suit after VPR Brands "explicitly threatened litigation" over the matter.