Gatorade's Injunction Motion Denied, Powerade Ads Mere Puffery, Not False

摘要

A sports drink's claim that it is the "Complete Sports Drink" does not constitute false advertising, but is mere puffery, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Aug. 4 (Stokely-Van Camp Inc. v. Coca-Cola Co., S.D.N.Y., No. 09-CV-3741, 9/4/09). The court ruled that the maker of Gatorade would not suffer irreparable harm without a permanent injunction against the maker of Powerade's new product Powerade Ion4. The court also ruled that the maker of Gatorade had unclean hands resulting from its own creation of a sports drink with similar qualities. Ion4 Launched and Compared. The Coca-Cola Co. markets the product Powerade in the sports drink market under its wholly-owned subsidiary Glaceau. Stokely-Van Camp Inc., which is a subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc., markets Gatorade Thirst Quencher and other Gatorade-based products.-