31 March 2004, 4:59pm ET
CHESTER, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 2004--Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:STSI) announced this afternoon that the presiding judge in the company's patent infringement lawsuit against RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR), Honorable Alexander Williams, Jr., has issued final rulings on five of the six summary judgment motions that RJR had filed, and on Star Scientific's motion for summary judgment. The Court adopted the Reports and Recommendations (R&Rs) of the Special Master appointed in September 2003. The Special Master recommended that the Court deny each of the RJR summary judgment motions that had been submitted to him for review, and grant in part, and deny in part, Star's summary judgment motion on claim construction and definiteness. While the R&Rs, and the motions on which they are based, currently remain under seal, the Court's orders were not filed under seal. In today's orders, the Court adopted the Special Master's R&Rs without modification.
The Court also issued an order denying RJR's motion for summary judgment seeking to limit Star's damages claim. This summary judgment motion had not been referred to the Special Master, but was ruled on directly by the Court.
There is one additional R&R, issued by the Special Master on Friday, March 26, 2004, which recommended that the last RJR summary judgment motion be denied, but objections and responses have not yet been submitted to the Court. Accordingly, the Court has not yet issued its ruling on that R&R.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to it. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, without limitation, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, particularly in the smokeless tobacco area, the uncertainties inherent in the progress of scientific research, the Company's ability to raise the capital necessary to grow its business, potential disputes concerning the Company's intellectual property, risks associated with litigation regarding such intellectual property, potential delays in obtaining any necessary government approvals of the Company's low-TSNA tobacco products, market acceptance of the Company's new smokeless tobacco products, competition from companies with greater resources than the Company, the Company's decision not to join the Master Settlement Agreement ("MSA"), the effect of state statutes adopted under the MSA and any subsequent modification of the MSA, and the Company's dependence on key employees and on its strategic relationships with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, and the impact, if any, of the proposed merger between Brown & Williamson and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, Inc. The impact of potential litigation, if initiated against or by individual states that have adopted the MSA, could be materially adverse to the Company.