• Chicago Tribune, Monday, May 7, 2012 12:10 PM

The heirs of Richard Ritchie, the man who developed the formula for Pepsi-Cola in 1931, sued Pepsico Inc. on Friday, saying they wanted to erase any doubt that his documents were theirs to share with historians, collectors and film producers.

A lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court by Ritchie's daughter, Joan Ritchie Silleck, and his son, Robert Ritchie, said they wanted to "tell their father's extraordinary life story without interference or the threat of litigation" from Pepsi. No comment yet from the Purchase, N.Y., beverage giant. The lawsuit asks the court for undisclosed damages for what it called Pepsi's "improper interference with their rights in the Ritchie invention and the Ritchie documents."

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