Rise Brewing Co. is taking PepsiCo to court.
The nitro cold brew coffee maker filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois yesterday alleging that PepsiCo violated its trademark when it launched MTN Dew Rise Energy, a new energy drink which rolled out to stores this spring.
According to the complaint, Rise alleged that PepsiCo was well aware of the startup brand through past discussions at trade shows when it launched MTN Dew Rise and that the conglomerate was “dismissive” of its concerns over trademark infringement and “refused to abandon any of its plans with respect to its infringing mark.”
Rise, the lawsuit stated, reached out to PepsiCo both before and after the launch of MTN Dew Rise to request the conglomerate change the product’s name. PepsiCo allegedly refused, “claiming that no confusion was likely as its drink is a morning caffeine drink and not a coffee drink” and that its use of the MTN Dew brand name “should absolve them of any wrongdoing.”
Launched in March and accompanied by a national marketing partnership with NBA star LeBron James, MTN Dew Rise has positioned itself as a better-for-you energy drink to be consumed in the morning — ideally replacing consumers’ wake-me-up cup of coffee. In the complaint, Rise said this puts the two brands in direct competition and in some cases has led to the products being placed on store shelves directly next to each other. As well, web searches for Rise will frequently return results for both brands.
MTN Dew Rise has already resulted in consumer and retailer confusion, the suit claims, alleging that on at least one occasion a supplier contacted Rise to say it had mistakenly ordered a display case for MTN Dew Rise instead of the coffee brand and on a separate occasion “at least one” customer asked the company if a MTN Dew commercial featuring LeBron James was associated with it.
As well, Rise has placed an increased focus in its marketing on the athletic community and has partnered with Olympic sports teams, sold product to Major League Baseball teams such as the Yankees and Mets, and was recently a sponsor of FOX Sports’ 2020 college football season. MTN Dew Rise’s focus on the athletic market, particularly through the involvement of James, is another point of contention, the complaint alleged.
Speaking to BevNET, Rise co-founder and CEO Grant Gyesky said the company reluctantly filed the lawsuit, calling it a “distraction” from building the brand. However, he said Rise intends to keep “heads down” and “keep doing what we’re doing” in the marketplace as it deals with the lawsuit.
“You all know what it takes to successfully build a brand when there’s so many brands out there and there’s so much new innovation in the space, there’s competition in the space, there’s a small number of retailers that you can get to,” Gyesky said. “And so it’s hard enough without external forces challenging the business. The largest impact here is it becomes a distraction for what we really want to be doing, which is innovating and growing our brand.”
PepsiCo did not respond to a request for comment from BevNET.