POM Wonderful Wins A Round In Food Fight With Coca-Cola
A food fight at the U.S. Supreme Court ended in a unanimous decision on Thursday.
The justices ruled that POM Wonderful can go forward with a lawsuit alleging Coca-Cola Co. tricked consumers and stole business from POM with false and misleading juice labels.
The case centers on a product aimed at health-conscious consumers: pomegranate-blueberry juice.
One version is made by POM Wonderful, a grower of pomegranates; the other, produced by Coca-Cola's Minute Maid division, says in large print that it is pomegranate-blueberry juice, too. The Coca-Cola product is almost five times cheaper. Only if you read down to the small print on the label do you see why: While POM's juice is 85 percent pomegranate and 15 percent blueberry juice, the Coca-Cola product is just 0.5 percent pomegranate and blueberry juice — combined.
POM sued Coca-Cola, claiming that it was losing sales because Coca-Cola's label and advertising were misleading consumers into believing they were getting a juice combination consisting mainly of pomegranate and blueberry juices when, in fact, the juice was more than 99 percent apple and grape juices, which are far cheaper. POM asked for damages and a court order barring such labeling.
Two lower courts ruled against POM, agreeing with Coca-Cola that because its label complies with the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, it is immune to suits under another law, called the Lanham Act.
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