• Brandweek, Friday, August 7, 2009 11:30 AM

PepsiCo's Gatorade lost its false advertising and trademark dilution suit against Coca-Cola's Powerade and the decision "had a lot to do with endurance -- Gatorade Endurance," Kenneth Hein reports. Manhattan district judge John G. Koeltl ruled that PepsiCo subsidiary Stokley Van Camp "has not shown either a likelihood of irreparable injury or a likelihood of success on the merits."

Powerade ION4 has claimed that it's a more complete sports drink than Gatorade because it contains two electrolytes that its competitor doesn't -- calcium and magnesium. Pepsi said that was bunkum. But undermining Pepsi's denial is the fact that Gatorade Endurance has been making the same claim since 2004 about the benefits of calcium and magnesium.

There's a lot more to the decision, of course, and Hein covers the nuances as pithily as possible. But for those of you looking for something to do this weekend, Brandweek links to copies of the actual court papers here.

Read the whole story at Brandweek »