Coca-Cola Vs. Koke Company

Coca-Cola Co. v. Koke Co. of America, 254 U.S. 143 (1920)

Facts: In 1886, John Pemberton invented a caramel-colored soft drink. It was named Coca cola after the two ingredients kola nuts and coca leave. The problem came when they called the beverage Coke. Coca Cola sued the Koke Company from using the word Koke for any of their products. Cola states that Koke Company is violation of trademark infringement and it is unfairly making and selling the beverage that use a trademark of Coke. The defendant proposes to manufacture and sell as a bottled product a soft drink, which he has designated as "Koke-Up" for which a copyright has been applied. Koke defends that Coca-Cola trademark, by its use their name represented that the beverage contain cocaine, which is a fraud. The Koke Company alleges that Cola Coca contained cocaine. Cola coca no longer contain cocaine in their beverages.

The court made their decision after reviewing all the information. The court says "It being conceded, as it must be, that while appellant adopted the name `Antiphlogistine' for its product, still if for some reason the general public has given to the product another and different name, by which it alone is known to the trade, the appellant becomes entitled to protection by injunction against one who thereafter endeavors through the adoption of such term as the public employs as synonymous for or as a secondary designation of such product, for in so doing the purchasing public may be deceived as to the article purchased, and the appellant is deprived of that trade which its industry and money have built up". Koke Company choose the name Koke-Up trying to build their brand off coca- cola. This action is trademark infringement at the base. It is trademark infringement occurs if one adopts a trade-name or a trade-mark so like another in form, spelling, or sound that one, with not a very definite or clear recollection as to the real trade-mark, is likely to become confused or