P&G Sues Coke for Infringing on Calcium-Fortification Patent

CINCINNATI--On May 31, the Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) filed a patent infringement suit against The Coca-Cola Co.'s Minute Maid division from infringing on P&G's patented calcium-supplemented fruit juices. According to P&G, the technology and composition used in fortifying the beverages is exclusively licensed to the company's division, Tropicana Products Inc.

The suit alleges Minute Maid is infringing on this patent with its "Minute Maid Premium Calcium Rich Home Squeezed Style Orange Juice" and "Minute Maid Premium Calcium Original Orange Juice" products.

P&G is asking for an injunction to stop Minute Maid from further infringement on the patent. The company is also seeking monetary damages resulting from Minute Maid's current infringement.

"P&G is firmly committed to protecting its proprietary technologies and will continue to take action to protect those technologies," said Mike Griffith, president of P&G's global beverage division."

Dan Schafer, director of public affairs at Minute Maid, told INSIDER that the suit is without merit. "We've been making calcium-fortified orange juice since 1987, and we produce it the same way today that we did back then," said Schafer, adding that the company uses a process it patented in 1989. Minute Maid uses tricalcium phosphate and calcium lactate, which Schafer says is from "different calcium sources from what [P&G] uses, and a totally different process."

According to Suzette Middleton, a spokesperson for Tropicana, the two Minute Maid juices in question are infringing on Tropicana's 1988 calcium-fortification patent, which covers composition and processing. "We just recently, within the last few months, discovered that the patent was being infringed," she said. "We will obviously protect our intellectual property." Tropicana uses calcium citrate malate in its calcium-fortified products.