The recent win of a small-scale coffee business in a preliminary court fight against the well-known soda conglomerate PepsiCo has brought the aforementioned business to the forefront of public attention. The coffee company’s decision to utilize a name for its recently launched Mountain Dew product was the source of the earlier disagreement.
A federal court has obtained an injunction requiring PepsiCo to discontinue the marketing campaign it is currently using for this beverage… In addition, Starbucks is now embroiled in a quite complicated dispute.
The complaint was brought against PepsiCo in June by Rise, a company specializing in canned coffee manufacturing and well-known for its nitro coffee brewing. The action was made in response to PepsiCo’s recent release of an energy drink that was given the moniker “Mtn Dew Rise.”
Those individuals who are looking for a caffeinated beverage in the morning but prefer alternatives to coffee or typical energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, or Rockstar (which is also a brand owned by PepsiCo) are the target audience for the Mountain Dew brand’s marketing of Mtn Dew Rise as a morning beverage with caffeine.
PepsiCo was accused of frequent infringement of trademark rights by Rise Brewing in their action that was filed in June. Rise Brewing also said that the soda giant had previously denied a less formal request from the coffee company to stop using the name “Rise.”
Reuters reports that a United States District Court in Manhattan has ruled in favor of the smaller people or companies against the larger ones. A preliminary injunction was given by Judge Lorna Schofield on Wednesday, which forbids PepsiCo from using the phrase “Mtn Dew Rise” for commercial purposes and from selling any items under a name that might possibly be confusingly similar to Rise Brewing’s “Rise” trademarks while the litigation is still continuing.
PepsiCo is prohibited from using the term “Mtn Dew Rise” for commercial reasons.
The distribution arrangement between PepsiCo and Starbucks for coffee drinks in grocery stores is likely to boost PepsiCo’s capacity to control the market and remove Rise Brewing’s coffee drinks as a viable alternative for consumers. This is according to sources.
According to Reuters, PepsiCo contends that their product should be categorized as a “fruit-flavored energy drink” rather than a canned coffee beverage, which is the category that Rise Brewing’s products are classed as belonging to.
At the same time as the legal counsel for Rise Brewing declared their contentment with the first outcome of the continuing legal issue, the legal counsel representing PepsiCo chose not to provide any remarks after the judge’s decision.
