5-Hour Energy Takes Lawsuit Against On Go Energy Shot to Federal Court

Aaron Dentel-Post|August 16, 2011 2:31 pm

Innovation Ventures LLC, the makers of 5-Hour Energy, are claiming $90,000 in damages over stolen trade secrets in a U.S. District Court lawsuit against Aspen Fitness Inc., which makes On Go Energy Shot, according to an article on crainsdetroit.com.

Reinvigorating the claims of a 2008 lawsuit that was dismissed by the Oakland County Circuit Court, the suit claims that Kevin Zwierzchowski, formerly Innovation Ventures’ controller and operations manager, took trade secret formulas along with a customer and vendor list when he was terminated from the company. According to Innovation Ventures, Zwierzchowski then shared them with Derrick George, the president and CEO of Aspen Fitness, when he was hired by George and received between $1,000 and $2,000 in consultation fees.

The lawsuit alleges misappropriation of trade secrets, copyright infringement, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, trademark infringement and violations of the federal Lanham Act.

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Nick

I remember at Bevnet West 2009 when the founder of 5 hour said we used to get sued, now we are big enough to do the suing.
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Olivia

The problem is they sue to stop competition. It’s a shame when our court systems are used to stop products from competing and lowering costs. Even reading that “trade secrets” were sold for 1k – 2k sounds pretty ridiculous when the market is a billion dollar industry. OnGo sells for $2.00 less a bottle – that is truly what this is about.
Ed

It’s a wonder OnGo is still around. This isn’t the first time nor the first company to sue Derrick George due to his ethically questionable conduct in business. OnGo is comparativley dust in the wind in relation to the super dominant 5 hour energy with it’s 80% market share. In my opinion, it’s flattering and unrealistic to even call Aspen fitness Inc. a competitor as OnGo has been around since 2006 and is yet to take 0.5% and I may even gamble 0.25% of the overall market share of energy shots.

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