WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is very pleased with today's jury verdict in favor of the company in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Star Scientific, Inc. (Star) in the U.S. District Court for Maryland - Northern Division. The jury ruled the patents in question, involving a method of treating tobacco to substantially prevent the formation of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), were invalid and not infringed.

'Certainly, we are pleased with the jury's decision,' said August Borschke, chief patent counsel for R.J. Reynolds. 'The jury carefully evaluated all of the evidence presented and came to the right conclusion. They saw what we have known all along, that Star's patents are invalid, and they should not have been issued in the first place. The jury also confirmed R.J. Reynolds did not infringe Star's patents in any event.'

Star filed the suit on May 23, 2001 and sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for past alleged infringement and an injunction going forward to prevent future alleged infringement.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (R.J. Reynolds) is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI). R.J. Reynolds is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, manufacturing about one of every three cigarettes sold in the United States. R.J. Reynolds' product line includes five of the nation's 10 best-selling cigarette brands: Camel, Pall Mall, Winston, Kool, and Doral. For more information about R.J. Reynolds, visit the company's Web site at www.RJRT.com.

SOURCE R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company