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The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which is fighting a patent lawsuit by Star Scientific Inc. (STSI).

Star Scientific is a developer of tobacco growing processes that reduce carcinogens in tobacco products. The company sued R.J. Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), alleging its larger tobacco infringed on patents on tobacco curing processes aimed at lower tobacco specific nitrosamines in tobacco plants.

R.J. Reynolds argued the Federal U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a special federal patent court, had wrongly overturned a federal trial judge's holding that it had not infringed on Star Scientific patents. "The Federal Circuit decision here departs from common sense," R.J. Reynolds said.

Star Scientific, in a court brief, called the legal reasoning behind R.J. Reynolds appeal "illusory."

Star Scientific's lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds began in 2001 and the case went to trial in 2005, resulting in a ruling in favor of R.J. Reynolds.. The Federal Circuit reversed the lower court in August 2008.

The case is R.J. Reynolds v. Star Scientific, 08-918. Star Scientific, 08-918.

-By Mark H. Anderson, Dow Jones Newswires, 202 862-9254; mark.anderson@dowjones.com