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77 Comments
- dinuguan, on 11/02/2009, -0/+115Ohhh, letter like an envelope, not letter like the "P" in "Pespi."
- inactive, on 11/02/2009, -6/+117Frivolous lawsuit... selling purified water is not "your idea".
That's like me saying I'm going to sell breathing air, and that someone else did it first was illegal.
This is precisely why this country is ***** up. - palehorse864, on 11/02/2009, -0/+37"Oh my secretary is soooo fired!"
- gllopc, on 11/02/2009, -2/+38FTA: "The judgment amount is equal to more than 20 percent of PepsiCo's reported annual profits in recent years, regulatory filings show."
Alright then, give me 20% of your salary from last year. It's just chump change, right? - sierrabravo, on 11/02/2009, -0/+34it took 20 years for them to remember that pepsi was bottling tap water?
- JackSchittt, on 11/02/2009, -2/+31By the time this is all settled, these two guys will end up getting a coupon for a free bottle of water.
Even if these two guys were more than just a couple of patent trolls, there's NO way in hell that Pepsi is going to fork over that kind of cash. It would cost pepsi far, far less (about 90-95% less) to simply drag the case out for a couple of decades through delays, paperwork, appeals, etc.
Oh, and that secretary would STILL be fired. Unless she had big boobs or gave good head, that is. - ChileanGoD, on 11/02/2009, -0/+28Joe Jacuzzi? ... Jacuzzi...rly? Didn't know it was a name.
- SreyaNotfilc, on 11/02/2009, -0/+24Yeah, AOL own the rights to Happy Birthday (a song that's so old and used so often around the world)? The son should have long since been public domain (like the smiley face).
This reminds me of a documentary on Hulu about Monsanto (the guys who created RoundUp weed killing solution). That compnay owns all sorts of seeds. And not just any genetically created seeds, but regular ones such as corn and the likes. One sceen in the documentary talks about a farmer who had to destroy the majority of his crop because a corn seed from Monsanto happen to fall off a truck when that truck passed by. The seed ended up growing and multiplying eventually taking up a large amount of the farm. The man was charged for theft (I believe) and had to either pay Monsanto or destroy his crop. These copyrights are lame and useless, but unfortunately that's how the law goes right now. - auto98, on 11/02/2009, -0/+15Interestingly, the earliest bottled water references i can find date to the 1800's. And perrier sold it in the 1970s.
- tattertech, on 11/02/2009, -0/+15No don't bury DaviDTC - that's true. Salary is not the same as profit. Hammertym3 should have to give up 20% of what he has left after taxes and other expenses.
- OasisR123, on 11/02/2009, -0/+14I was halfway through the article thinking the same....
that they had made some advertising as Pespi or something... - pimpofpixels, on 11/02/2009, -0/+14The true cost of bimbo secretaries.
- TalahRama, on 11/02/2009, -0/+14Incidentally, nobody had put water into a bottle until 1981.
- thegunslinger1, on 11/02/2009, -3/+161.26 Billion for filtered water, I wonder how much I can sue for the "cold coffee" idea I had way back when, Starbucks here I come!
- m3arvk, on 11/02/2009, -1/+13Are you a lawyer or did you just stay at a Holiday Inn Express?
- Rainemaker, on 11/02/2009, -0/+12Everyone can relax. Default judgment's are easily set aside when there exists a valid defense and excusable neglect. Court's loathe judgments by technicality just as much as we do, and know that the outcome should be based on the merits of the case, not who's secretary is a bimbo.
- dinuguan, on 11/02/2009, -0/+11It tastes 1.26 billion dollars better.
- Dorftrottel, on 11/02/2009, -0/+10Yep. I had a history professor who grew up in California. He went to school with the son of the man who invented the Jacuzzi. The man's son happened to suffer from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and was in constant pain. He adapted water pump expertise from his family's business to create a tub with massaging water jets to ease his son's pain.
- irishjays, on 11/02/2009, -1/+11EpsiCo
- Falldog, on 11/02/2009, -0/+9"The Wisconsin men said they talked with the distributors in 1981 about their idea to bottle and sell purified water and that PepsiCo later stole the idea by creating Aquafina."
"It started distributing bottled water in Wichita, Kansas in 1994" (via Wikipedia)
So they stole their idea, but sat on it for 13 years before using it? - kiingdano, on 11/02/2009, -2/+10youre a total moron.
fail. - Gibletoid, on 11/02/2009, -0/+8You have my sense of humor.
Please return it. - LiquidShield, on 11/02/2009, -1/+8Yeah well the judge is a moron. How many other companies have been selling bottled purified watter? Hell I don't even remember seeing bottled water growing up in the 80's.
- dinuguan, on 11/02/2009, -0/+7Haha the story would be more interesting had that been the case.
- snogye, on 11/02/2009, -0/+7I've got a business plan to sell fresh air in Beijing. It's my hard-earned IP.
- Stalks, on 11/02/2009, -0/+6I want some of this "Pespi".
Is it better than Coca-Cola? - diggbigwig, on 11/02/2009, -1/+7But was she hot? That should be the determining factor.
- tigertiger, on 11/02/2009, -0/+5Sure the secretary isn't a friend of these guys? I'd take a few million to 'lose' a letter.
- thegunslinger1, on 11/02/2009, -0/+5Does it come in bottles or get piped in?? What's vintage and source? They are going love that there!
- atomic811, on 11/02/2009, -0/+4Earth stole my idea!!
- belthize, on 11/02/2009, -0/+4He's right.
Spend about 10 seconds thinking about it, $1,200,000,000 is not going to be awarded on the "Dude, they totally lost our certified letter" strategy. This is not some stupid Hollywood movie.
The Judge had no choice but to find in favor of the plaintiff, it will no be appealed, many very expensive lawyers will now savage the ***** (rightly or wrongly) out of the case and at best some settlement will occur, at worst the plaintiff's lose. - m3arvk, on 11/02/2009, -2/+6Looks like the judge disagrees with you.
- TitsMageee, on 11/02/2009, -0/+4mmm... it sounds like they never went to court because the secretary didn't pass on the letter telling them they were being sued.
If the defendant doesn't show up to court -> default judgement. - watermelonnz, on 11/02/2009, -1/+4There is no way they will get that money any time soon.
- ShingoEX, on 11/02/2009, -2/+5Gotta love the ***** legal system.
- malaprop, on 11/02/2009, -3/+6Surely in any court case the claimants and defendants are required to swap all evidence to be relied upon in court. I hardly think that one letter stood between the commencement of the case and the judgment being awarded.
- Midtowner, on 11/02/2009, -0/+3Lawyer here, I was going to say something to that effect, but you did just fine.
- Jeff901, on 11/02/2009, -2/+4Nothing here states whether it was a certified letter...
So, if you or I had "ignored" a court letter like that, we would have little if ANY recourse.....A corporation "ignores" a court letter and they get another chance to counter the suit? Why...a corporation is a legal entity equal to a person and should be treated as such. FOUL!
Regardless of whether the lawsuit if frivolous or or not, if the defendant does not show in court, it is a default judgement in favor of the plaintiff, and that is how it goes! - cdsfire, on 11/02/2009, -0/+2Wasn't this a "Mad Men" episode?
- GABACALM, on 11/02/2009, -0/+2"we all make mistakes"
Yes, and if those mistakes break the law, then there are consequences. - howdareyou, on 11/02/2009, -0/+2People were buying bottled water back in the 1800s, it's nothing new.
- diggbigwig, on 11/02/2009, -0/+2I also thought it was going to be the landmark case of "Pepi -vs- Pepsi"
- malaprop, on 11/02/2009, -0/+2Yup I agree with you. But they cant have known there would be no representative at court. Therefore they would need to submit all the evidence they were planning to rely on to the other party prior to the date of the hearing. I think it is called the exchange of documents or some such. I know that when we go to court we always have to supply the other party with copy documentation.
- mwilhelm, on 11/03/2009, -0/+1It wasn't pepsi's idea either. Yet they make billions off it anyway by abusing the legal system. Do you fault this guy for doing the same?
- mwilhelm, on 11/03/2009, -0/+1so it's ok for pepsi not to follow the rules cause everyone knows they'll pay their bill?
Just playing devil's advocate here. - moduc, on 11/02/2009, -0/+1The judge should be fired. No judge would reward such an amount, even Pepsi loses. The idea of selling clean water bottle, or water in certain type of container was a few thousand year old. Pepsi can as well copy the idea from their competitors or from the past. Even at the present, copying the idea would not cause such punishment. People copy ideas all the time, as long as it's not a secret like trade secret or patented. It's how they executed the business to make money that gave the success.
- RedLTeut, on 11/02/2009, -0/+1Hmm maybe I should go to court to ..
Might be better odds than winning the lottery jackpot. - candlewood, on 11/02/2009, -0/+1Have you heard any judgment against court that court clerk have miss place document
- publiclurker, on 11/02/2009, -0/+1The judge wasn't being a dick about it. Basically, if one side does not show up in court, the other side gets whatever they ask for.
- sock2828, on 11/12/2009, -0/+1Hmm I need to think out what I say next time.
What I should have said was they have been selling pre-brewed cold coffee longer than they have been selling water that comes pre-bottled from a bottling plant. People have been bottling water them self's since the human species began. I know this however selling tap water in individual bottles is a relativly new idea.
My earlier comment was horribly thought out and worded terribly, and I regret it. -
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