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But then I had a thought
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But Hon maintains they are copycats infringing patents owned by Dragonite International, a Hong Kong-listed company of which he is chief executive.The firm has filed lawsuits against several manufacturers in the United States, and Hon said at least one has agreed to settle out of court."They have made some small adjustments, but their basic structure is the same," he said."If I received just one mao ($0.02) from each cigarette sold, that would be a huge amount."Hon's invention has also faced setbacks in Asia, with Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand banning the sale of e-cigarettes on safety grounds.His biggest fear is that governments will classify them as medical products, as in Hong Kong -- where sales are low -- potentially limiting the market by subjecting them to standards they were not designed to meet.His latest gambit is to team up with Europe's second-largest tobacco company, Imperial Tobacco, which has announced plans to pay $75 million for the e-cigarette patents owned by Dragonite, in which Hon says he only has a small shareholding.The inventor said the proceeds will be invested back into the company, and he will not get any immediate financial benefit.Eric Bloomquist, an independent tobacco industry analyst based in London, said the patents may have been strong enough to be attractive to Imperial but that they could also lose relevance as the product evolves."They found the patents compelling," he said, but added that it was not clear "to what degree Dragonite's patents are critical components to the newest standards in the market".Imperial said the acquisition would "further strengthen our growing presence in the e-vapour sector" but declined to elaborate.Hon will remain in the e-cigarette business as adviser to Imperial -- he says there's "nothing contradictory" about working with a tobacco company -- and will also work on devising new products.He hopes his invention can eventually replace the conventional cigarette entirely -- and perhaps bring him the recognition he says he deserves."It's like a digital camera taking over from the analogue camera
