My Central Oregon reports…..PepsiCo in legal battle with moonshine distillery over ‘Mountain Dew’ trademark
(NEW YORK) — PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest food companies, is in a legal battle with a Tennessee distillery, Ole Smoky Moonshine, over the distillery’s trademark application for the term “Mountain Dew.”
PepsiCo filed a Notice of Opposition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in 2016 opposing Ole Smoky’s trademark for “Ole Smoky Mountain Dew Moonshine.” PepsiCo said that its products “are sold in almost every supermarket in the United States,” and that it has “built up a very high level of consumer and trade recognition symbolized by [PepsiCo’s] marks.”
PepsiCo went on to say that Ole Smoky’s use of “Mountain Dew” would “be likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake or to deceive with consequent injury to [PepsiCo].” PepsiCo added that they will be “damaged” if Ole Smoky were to be granted a Mountain Dew trademark.
Here at LIPS we decided to do a modicum of research to see where Pepsi’s version of Mountain Dew sat on the caffeinated drinks list and it’s certainly a contender
Soft Drinks |
Serving Size |
Caffeine (mg) |
| FDA official limit for cola and pepper soft drinks | 12 oz. | 71 (200 parts per million) |
| Pepsi Zero Sugar | 20 oz. | 115 |
Mountain Dew—diet or regular |
20 oz. |
91 |
| Diet Coke | 20 oz. | 76 |
| Surge | 16 oz. | 69 |
| Pepsi Zero Sugar | 12 oz. | 69 |
| Dr Pepper or Sunkist—diet or regular | 20 oz. | 68 |
| Pepsi | 20 oz. | 63 |
| Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, or Diet Pepsi | 20 oz. | 56-57 |
| Mountain Zevia (Zevia) | 12 oz. | 55 |
Mountain Dew—diet or regular |
12 oz. |
54 |
| Coca-Cola Life | 20 oz. | 47 |
| Diet Coke | 12 oz. | 46 |
| Dr Pepper or Sunkist—diet or regular | 12 oz. | 41 |
| Pepsi | 12 oz. | 38 |
| Pepsi True | 12 oz. | 38 |
| Barq’s Root Beer, regular | 20 oz. | 38 |
| Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, or Diet Pepsi | 12 oz. | 34 |
| Coca-Cola Life | 12 oz. | 28 |
| Pepsi True | 7.5 oz. | 24 |
| Barq’s Root Beer, regular | 12 oz. | 22 |
| 7-Up, Fanta, Fresca, ginger ale, or Sprite | 12 oz. | 0 |
| Root beer, most brands—diet or regular | 12 oz. | 0 |
Source: https://cspinet.org/eating-healthy/ingredients-of-concern/caffeine-chart
It does well with fructose too !
Top Five Consumer Drinks With the Most Fructose/Total Sugar (in grams per liter):
-
Mountain Dew – 72.3 / 121.57
- Mug Root Beer – 66.9 / 114.01
- Minute Maid 100% Apple Juice – 65.8 / 109.62
- Pepsi – 65.7 / 109.52
- Coca-Cola – 62.5 / 105.24
Source: https://top5ofanything.com/list/ffb32126/Consumer-Drinks-with-the-Most-Fructose
The MyCentral Oregon report goes on to say….
“Mountain Dew is one of the world’s most iconic and recognized brands, and has been since it was established more than 70 years ago,” a spokesperson for PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew said in a statement to ABC News. “The planned unauthorized use of Mountain Dew by another party violates PepsiCo’s trademark rights, and we must vigorously protect our brand.”
Ole Smoky’s founder, Joe Baker, told ABC News that “mountain dew” has long been a synonym for the alcoholic beverage moonshine, and that the drink has had ties to the Appalachian Mountain region — which includes Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia — since before Prohibition began in 1920.
In a response to PepsiCo’s notice on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s website, Ole Smoky argues that “Mountain Dew was first used as a trademark for a distilled spirits product around 1890 by John W. McCulloch,” and cited an article from 1897 referring to the spirit and a permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which granted McCulloch the sole right to use the “Mountain Dew” name on distilled spirits.
McCulloch incorporated his distillery in 1900 and renamed it Green River Distilling Company, according to a declaration filed by McCulloch’s great-grandson, Robert McCulloch, to the USPTO.
Although the distillery would close down during Prohibition, Robert McCulloch told ABC News that he began the process in Kentucky of restarting Mountain Dew in 2004, with the intention of partnering with PepsiCo to sell his alcoholic Mountain Dew, but PepsiCo denied the request. A few years later, in 2009, changes in Tennessee’s liquor laws allowed moonshine to be legally produced and sold there.
In 2015, he sold the rights and goodwill of the trademark for Mountain Dew for distilled spirits to Ole Smoky Distillery, LLC, through his own company, McCulloch Pre-Prohibition Brands, LLC, according to the response.
In 2015, Ole Smoky Moonshine filed an application to trademark “Ole Smoky Mountain Dew Moonshine” for distilled spirits.
PepsiCo holds over 20 trademarks for “Mountain Dew” — with different variations of spelling — for non-alcoholic beverages, cooking sauces, clothing and headphones, among other categories.
