PepsiCo may soon find themselves in hot water in a brewing legal battle with a cold brew company. Rise Brewing Company is suing the soda giant for trademark infringement stemming from their latest product, energy drink Mountain Dew Rise.
Released in March of this year, youโve probably been passively exposed to the marketing push for Mountain Dew Rise. As the drink that NBA superstar LeBron James left Sprite/Coca-Cola to endorse, MD Rise commercials have littered the NBA playoffs this year showing James doing everything from laundry to mowing the yard to salsa dancing (which led to Phoenix Sunsโ Jae Crowderโs Game 6 ejection after his team had all but clenched against Jamesโs Lakers).
The suit was filed in a Chicago court Tuesday, June 15th, per Law360, alleging that the โinfringing drink they were about to launch would cause lasting and irreparable injury to Rise Brewing’s brand.โ Per MSN, the suit states that this is a โclassic case of reverse confusionโ whereby “a larger, more powerful junior user (PepsiCo) adopted the trademark (Rise) of a smaller senior user (Rise Brewing) and uses its commercial dominance and superior resources to saturate the market with that mark.โ
The suit further alleges that the Pepsi subsidiaryโs new self-described “morning caffeine drinkโ is “designed to specifically target the morning coffee drinker, and is marketed as a morning caffeinated drink to replace ready-to-drink coffee drinks such as Rise,” per Reuters. Riseโs attorney Jason Rosenbergโof firm Alston & Bird, who recently successfully argued for a temporary restraining order of Pepsiโs Gatorlyte hyrdration drink on behalf of Mexican company Laboratorios Pisa’s Electrolitโstates that PepsiCo has a โconsiderable history of infringing on other brandsโ names, per MSN, citing previous cases where Pepsi was sued by VitaminWater, Polar seltzer, and Simply Orange juice for similar trademark infringements.
Pepsi has yet to comment on the allegations.
This story is developing…
Zac Cadwaladerย is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.ย Read more Zac Cadwaladerย on Sprudge.