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NEW YORK — The heirs of the man who helped develop theformula for Pepsi are suing the soda company over their right toshare with the public documents detailing their father"sinvention. The daughter and son of Richard Ritchie say PepsiCo Inc . is interfering with their ability to market or sell the rights oftheir father"s life story and documents detailing his 1931soda formula. The suit seeks a declaration that their disclosure ofthe documents would be protected by First Amendment rights andwouldn"t be considered a trade secret violation. "The original formulas of iconic beverages and the lore thatsurrounds their genesis and provenance are of great interest to thepublic," the suit states. In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, Joan Ritchie Silleckand Robert Ritchie also seek unspecified damages for"unjustified and improper acts that have interfered"with their rights regarding their father"s documents. A representative for PepsiCo said the Purchase, N.Y., company doesnot comment on pending litigation. Attorneys for the plaintiffs didnot immediately return calls for comment. According to PepsiCo"s website, the company"s namesakecola was created in the late 1890s by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacistfrom North Carolina. The beverage was named it for its ingredientsof pepsin and cola nuts; Bradham lost the company in bankruptcyafter the First World War. The suit filed on Friday says that the soda became a commercialsuccess after Ritchie reformulated it in 1931. It states thatRitchie was working on candy formulas at a company called Loft Inc.at the time when the company president, Charles Guth, bought thebankrupt Pepsi-Cola Co. Guth wasn"t satisfied with the Pepsi flavour and askedRitchie to come up with a better tasting formula, which became acommercial hit by 1934, according to the lawsuit. In 1941, the suit says Ritchie provided the then-president of Pepsiwith a copy of his "invention"; that duplicate was keptin a bank vault by the company. Pepsi was aware that Ritchie keptthe original document for himself, according to the suit. Ritchie died in 1985; the documents weren"t discovered in hisboxes by his heirs until 2008. After a family member notified aPepsiCo historian of the documents, a company representativevisited the home to view the materials. The company subsequentlydemanded the return of the documents and said any disclosure ofthem would be a misappropriation of a Pepsi trade secret, accordingto the suit. The suit claims that PepsiCo has asserted that the documents arecompany property and deserve trade secret protection and that they"never be made public.". The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Herbal Slimming Capsules , China Body Slimming Gel, and more. For more , please visit Herbal Slimming Capsules today!
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