China-based Shenzhen Smoore Technology Co., known as the world’s largest manufacturer of industry-standard cartridge-based marijuana oil vaporizers, orchestrated an illegal monopoly to win control of the market and squash competition, a new class action lawsuit claims.
This latest legal challenge brought against Smoore, whose CCELL 510-threaded vaporizer is sold throughout the United States, was filed by Tucson, Arizona marijuana retailer Earth’s Healing.
According to the suit – first reported by Green Market Report – Smoore has colluded with U.S.-based partners since fall 2016, creating a “cartel” to control prices and ensure that there are “no meaningful competitors.”
Smoore’s “anticompetitive conduct has artificially fixed the price of Smoore’s Vapes in the United States at supra-competitive levels,” the lawsuit claims.
Federal antitrust accusations against vaporizer ‘cartel’
The suit, which alleges a violation of federal antitrust laws, requests unspecified damages.
It’s unclear whether other parties will sign onto Earth’s Healing attempt at a class action lawsuit.
Earth’s Healing’s lawsuit names four alleged collaborators in addition to Smoore, all of which are based in the United States and are identified in the suit as the company’s U.S.-based “Authorized Distributors.”
According to the suit, “Smoore has entered into horizontal agreements with its Authorized Distributors that bars each from competing with one another and with Smoore.”
These distributors are identified as:
- Tempe, Arizona-based Jupiter Research, a subsidiary of Tilt Holdings.
- Delaware-headquartered Greenlane Holdings.
- Everett, Washington-based CB Solutions.
- Las Vegas-based 3Win Corp.
Court records do not show that the defendants have been served with the suit.
It’s also unclear what power U.S. courts might have over China-based Smoore.
Smoore ‘policed’ anticompetitive conduct
According to the suit, Smoore and its collaborators “entered into written and signed agreements” to charge customers minimum prices and to not compete for each other’s business.
Smoore “policed their agreement” through such means as “deducting money from the security deposit” Smoore required partner companies to pay, the lawsuit claims.
Federal court records show that the Feb. 11 lawsuit follows a flurry of patent claims filed by Smoore against would-be competition.
In 2022, the International Trade Commission made an initial determination that Smoore did not have patented technology.
A subsequent “definitive” ruling by the agency in 2023 affirmed that finding.
Those actions preceded a June 2024 counterclaim in which a Seattle-based vape-tech company accused Smoore of using “abusive litigation” to “unlawfully restrain competition.”
Those separate matters are still pending, court records show.
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