LOCAL BOTTLING COMPANY FACES LEGAL CHALLENGES

Zoe Zajac

BLOOMSBURG, PA—Many places have the same selection when it comes to soda. At the grocery store
there is Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper and many other corporate giants distributing drinks. That’s not the
only option for residents of About 15 minutes from Bloomsburg University there is a bottling company
that manufactures local soda creations for a large part of the region. Running this business takes a lot of
man hours and comes with an abundance of challenges. This includes day to day function as well as
corporate issues like legal action with competitors.

Paula Clark nee Gregorowicz is from Catawissa, PA. After most school days as a child she would
head down to the family business to work and spend time with her siblings and parents. “I can
remember sitting on the loading dock when I was about six,” she says. “I would sit and put cases
together to hold bottles and drink soda until I was sick.” Her family has owned their bottling company
for nearly 100 years. Today, when customers walk into Catawissa Bottling Company they are met with a
large selection of locally made beverages and the sweet smell emitting from the factory floor one room
away. Customers often stay in the lobby of the bottling company to talk to the owners and office
workers that they’ve grown up with all of their lives.

In 2015 the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group based in Texas filed a lawsuit against Catawissa
Bottling/Big Ben’s for copyright and trademark infringement for the packaging of Big Red Cream soda.
Catawissa Bottling was accused of stealing/infringing upon the logo for Big Red and using on their Big
Ben’s Red Cream. It was completely by chance that Big Ben’s soda ended up being sold in Texas. “Some
of the customers that buy our drinks nationally will redistribute them in their area on occasion. We’ve
never sold soda in Texas,” says Paula Clark.

The initial reaction to these accusations was pure shock at Catawissa Bottling. Over a few weeks
some letters were received along with a few phone calls describing the case. Clark described the series
of events as being surreal. “I didn’t think much of it until more communication starting coming in,” she
says, “I wanted to believe it was a joke.” Clark describes the ordeal as being very stressful for everyone
who worked there. Every day was a circus of phone calls from either press or expert law firms that
wanted to have a go at the newest, big, corporate case. The livelihood of most of her family is
dependent on Catawissa Bottling and Big Ben’s.

After months of legal battles and help from some local lawyers who wholly supporting the small
business Catawissa Bottling won the suit after proving that their recipe was developed years before Big
Red and while differences in packaging were obvious they changed the packaging of all Big Ben’s creams
sodas to avoid conflict. Clark also stated that even after the ordeal was settled it left many workers
relieved that it was over, but on edge in fear that this could happen again.

This legal spectacle did not go unnoticed by the public. There was coverage spanning from local
sources to the national scale. Media coverage raised the attention of the local citizens and their reaction
to the case was nearly unanimous. According to Clark several community members reached out to
whole heartedly support Catawissa Bottling. “I would see people in town or in the shop and they would
tell me how the case upset them and that they were upset, swearing off of Dr. Pepper produced
products.” Many local businesses also did this. Some small shops in Catawissa that sold Big Ben’s soda
removed Dr. Pepper products for the duration of the suit.

Catawissa Bottling has been and established landmark for locals since 1926, when Bruce “Big
Ben” Gregorowicz and his wife Suzzane received their license to bottle soda. They currently make 23
flavors of soda, distribute beer, and are one of only 6 bottling companies nationally that make produce
and distribute Moxie. Moxie is a root-based soda that was originally used for medicinal purposes in the
late 1800s. Moxie is an acquired taste for many and for some is something that’s considered incredibly
nostalgic. One local Bloomsburg University student, Nicholas Sherwood says that he’s been drinking Big
Ben’s soda for most of his life. He says that Big Ben’s blue birch beer drew him in as a kid and ever since
he’s been hooked. He says that he didn’t initially know about the lawsuit, but that the situation angered
him after he learned of it. “I would seek it out specifically in my hometown and if we had lost that it
would upset almost everyone I know.”

This is one case in a long line of similar situations. Large international corporations like Dr.
Pepper hold a lot of power in their market. The cases are not always against small businesses; they are
against other equal competitors. For those in search of them, there are numerous public court case
documents on the legal wars of the bottling industry. The basic suits that are initiated by bottling
corporations are usually focused on packaging and similarities in recipe. These cases have ranged from
giants like Pepsi-Cola Company v. Dr. Pepper Company to small bottlers filing suits if a more powerful
company tries to unfairly acquire them. The new nature of this industry involves legal action that will
affect the future of developing businesses.