Coke’s Bid for ‘Zero’ Trademark Tossed Back on Dr. Pepper Appeal
- Coca-Cola will have to argue anew for trademark registrations
- Dr. Pepper says Zero for soft drinks is a generic term
Bottles of Coca-Cola Zero sugar free soft drink, left, and regular Coca-Cola soft drink.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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In a bitter branding battle, an appeals court sided with Coca-Cola Co.’s rivals and ordered a reconsideration of Coke’s claim that “Zero” is distinctive to its brand.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday granted Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. a new opportunity to challenge 17 of Coca-Cola’s trademark registrations that use Zero in the brand name. The rival drinkmaker argued that the term Zero is generic and consumers understand the word to mean any drink with less than 5 calories.