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The fledgling electronic cigarettes industry scored another victory from the Food in federal court Monday, potentially setting the stage for any battery-powered devices to get regulated like conventional cigarettes and tobacco products.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for any District of Columbia Circuit rejected the FDA's request to give the entire court review a December decision by way of a three-judge panel that went contrary to the agency.

The FDA, which contends which the products really should be regulated as drug devices, presenting selecting asking the U.S. Supreme Court to use in the case. An FDA spokesman said Monday the agency is evaluating the latest court ruling "and considering its legal and regulatory options."

Smokeless cigarette are battery-powered tubes that turn nicotine-laced liquid into a vapor mist. The devices have caught lets start on 1000s of smokers who want an alternative to their daily habit, creating annual industry revenue that is at least $100 million.

On Dec. 7, a three-judge D.C. appeals panel ruled that e-cigarettes, that are sold on the internet in malls, needs to be regulated as tobacco products through the FDA unless marketers claim that this devices help smokers quit or provide other remedies.

The agency has argued that health e-cigaretteare drug or medical devices which need pre-approval through the FDA, much like nicotine gums, patches or sprays. The agency began intercepting shipments of electronic cigarette starter kits from China in 2008, prompting case with the industry.

Sottera Inc., an Arizona e-cigarette distributor that joined the suit as being a plaintiff, and several other e-cigarette purveyors say some are easily recreational choices to cigarettes and should 't be controlled by the onerous pre-approval process required of quit-smoking aids.

The agency has regulated nicotine-replacement products for a long time and gained authority to manage your production and marketing of any nicotine products along with tobacco prodcuts for the first time just last year. Should the government chose to regulate e-cigarettes as cigarettes and tobacco products, manufacturers would still face significant regulations, nonetheless it is better to bring the devices to the market.

"We are extremely excited about the court's decision to not ever rehear so," Gregory Garre, an attorney at law who represents Sottera, said in a email Monday. "The idea that the full court unanimously declined the government's rehearing request underscores the force from the panel's original decision."

The appeals court Monday also refused to reinstate a stay of any preliminary injunction that's granted for the e-cigarette distributors by a U.S. district-court judge in January 2010. The injunction blocked the agency from intercepting their product shipments from China.