The IP Factor

Apparently, PepsiCo. were revealed the trade secret of vending bottled water, and went ahead and marketed this revolutionary product as Aquafina without coming to a business arrangement with the entrepeneurs who gave them the idea. Anyway, PepsiCo. forgot to defend the charges and a Wisconsin judge awarded damages of 1.26 billion dollars against the rinks company.  The alleged infringement happened in 1981, so one wonders about Statute of Limitations issues.

For the full story, see: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59R58N20091028

Apparently the charges were ignored due to a misplaced letter and a conflicting board meeting, and PepsiCo. have requested that the case is heard and tried on its merits.  Bottling water wasn’t new back in 1981, so we find the whole issue a little weird.

This is somewhat reminiscent of Peckham Spring Water.  See the BBC hit series “Only Fools and Horses” 1992 Xmas Special – Mother Nature’s Son.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 8:29 am and is filed under Business Method, famous marks, Intellectual Property, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.