Although not a typical IP case, this one was too good not to mention.
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. (Lakeville-Middleboro, MA) has sued Decas Cranberry Products, Inc. (Carver, MA), related corporate defendants, and a number of “John Doe Growers” (“who are not members of the Ocean Spray cooperative”) and “John Doe Handlers” for deceptive trade practices under the Lanham Act, the Agricultural Fair Practices Act, and MA state law. The complaint stems from an alleged campaign by the defendants to harm Ocean Spray’s reputation, relationship with its customers, dealings with cranberry growers, etc. The complaint particularly charges that the defendants tried to get growers to join a lawsuit against Ocean Spray by “falsely claiming that Ocean Spray is violating the law, including the federal antitrust laws.”
A variety of bad acts by Decas are alleged, including malicious blog posts, letters to the industry, a letter to the U.S. Attorney General, secretly operating the anti-Ocean Spray website <www.scamberry.org> (!) along with associated Twitter and YouTube accounts, etc.
The complaint notes that Decas is the self proclaimed “second-largest cranberry company in the world” while conspicuously omitting the fact that Ocean Spray is the largest. Perhaps to avoid admitting anything that might come back to bite in an antitrust claim?
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. v. Decas Cranberry Products, Inc., 10-11288-RWZ (Aug. 2, 2010)