TreeHouse Foods, Inc. has filed an antitrust and unfair competition lawsuit against Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. and Keurig, Inc., alleging that they have undertaken a series of unlawful practices that have allowed them to dominate the single-serve coffee market, despite the expiration of their “K-Cup” patents in 2012. TreeHouse Foods, Inc. v. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., No. 14-0905 (U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y., filed February 11, 2014).
Among other matters, the plaintiffs claim that Green Mountain (i) eliminated potential competitors by acquiring them; (ii) systematically tied up vertical distribution channels for competitive cups by entering restrictive exclusive dealing contracts with companies at all levels of the compatible cup distribu- tion system, including machinery sellers, compatible cup component sellers, competitor coffee roasters and coffee brands, and retailers selling compatible cups to end user consumers, businesses and institutions; (iii) filed an unsuc- cessful patent-infringement lawsuit against the plaintiff—the Federal Circuit concluded that “Keurig is attempting to impermissibly restrict purchasers of Keurig brewers from using non-Keurig [Competitive Cups] by invoking patent law”; and (iv) developed a new K-Cup brewer that will be able to identify if a competitive cup is inserted and prevent the brewer from working with it.
Asserting 18 counts under federal, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin laws, the plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief; compensatory, trebled and punitive damages; interest; attorney’s fees; and costs.
