Coca-Cola, Monster Sued Over Use Of Juice Peddler's Name By Suevon Lee
Law360, Los Angeles (July 29, 2016, 9:20 PM EDT) -- The Coca-Cola Co. and Monster Beverage Corp. are accused of unlawfully using the name and likeness of a former fresh fruit juice purveyor in the branding and marketing of Hubert’s Lemonade and Hansen’s Juices in a lawsuit removed to California federal court on Wednesday. The Hubert Hansen Intellectual Property Trust and three individual co-trustees who say they are heirs of Hubert Hansen — the creator and founder of Hansen’s brand of fresh fruit juices — contend they exclusively own the rights of publicity to Hansen’s name, signature, image and persona and that Coca-Cola and Monster are unlawfully using those marks for commercial purposes.
“Defendants have never had, and do not have, plaintiffs’ permission to use Hubert Hansen’s publicity rights — his name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, identity and/or persona — including, to market and/or sell themselves or any products,” the June 22 lawsuit says.
The trust and three co-trustees, Jeanne E. Hansen, Timothy M. Hansen, Maureen T. Todd, filed their lawsuit for misappropriation of right of publicity under the California Civil Code in California Superior Court in San Diego. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola this week removed the case to federal court, arguing Corona, Calif.-based Monster Beverage was improperly joined as a defendant to the suit, thus creating diversity of citizenship between the other two parties.
Hubert Hansen established his brand of juices in the 1930s, selling his products to film studios and local retailers in Southern California. The brand eventually evolved and developed into Monster Beverage Corp.
The contested likeness on Hubert’s Lemonade pertains to a front label that bears a winking lemon caricature and a back label containing a brief description of Hubert Hansen's business start that is repeated on the drink’s website. The challenged likeness of Hansen’s fruit juices is associated with narrative text that appears in the "About Us" page of a former website operated by Monster.
The reasons for the timing of the lawsuit are unclear. Monster launched the Hubert’s Lemonade product line on Aug. 26, 2010. According to a declaration by its former vice president of marketing, Monster obtained a federal registration of Hubert’s trademark from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in September 2011 and of the winking lemon design in January 2014.
The energy drink company also contends it obtained a federal registration from the USPTO for Hansen’s Juices brand trademark as far back as November 1983, with a “first use in commerce” date of November 1974.
Last year, on June 12, 2015, the energy drink company transferred its rights, title and interest in Hubert’s Lemonade and Hansen’s Juices to Coca-Cola per an assert transfer agreement.
On June 5, 2015, according to the complaint, the trust filed a registration of claim of successor-in-interest with the California Secretary of State to own a 100 percent interest in the likeness of Hubert Hansen, who died in Los Angeles in 1951.
The trust additionally alleges that Monster filed its own registration of claim as a successor of interest in the name of Hubert Hansen on April 13, 2015, which it claims is false and “perjurous” since there is allegedly no contract that ever transferred the rights of publicity in the deceased founder’s name to Monster.
The lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages sought but says that will be included in a later amended complaint. Coca-Cola’s total revenues from the sale of the product lines at issue are believed to be in the “multi-million dollar range.”
In an answer to the complaint filed Wednesday, Coca-Cola denied any wrongdoing, arguing that Hubert Hansen is not a “deceased personality” within the meaning of the statute the lawsuit is being brought under. The soda giant denies that his name had any commercial value at the time of his death in 1951, or that his alleged right to publicity was not assigned to Monster Energy before Coca-Cola acquired its interest in the beverage product lines at issue.
Further, it contends the suit improperly names Monster as a defendant based on the statute of limitations. Monster made historical references to the founder on its juice and lemonade product websites more than two years ago, according to Coca-Cola.
Whatever damages the trust alleges against Coca-Cola, the company argues, should be limited to the period after which the trust registered as successors of interest with the California Secretary of State on June 5, 2015.
A representative for Coca-Cola declined to comment on the case Friday.
Marc P. Miles, an attorney with Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP who is representing Monster, said his client will be asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, telling Law360 on Friday the claims “have no merit and are legally barred.”
“All right, title and interest in the intellectual property associated with the Hansen brands were transferred to Monster decades ago,” Miles said. “In 2010, Monster launched Hubert’s Lemonade and developed it into a successful product. Now, six years later, this group is trying to reap the benefits of Monster’s hard work.”
Lawyers for the trust didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The trust is represented by Jeffrey I. Abrams, Charles J. Harder and Lan P. Vu of Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP and R. Michael Jones and Michael J. Hoisington of Higgs Fletcher & Mack.
The Coca-Cola Co. is represented by Robert N. Phillips and Ashley L. Shively of Reed Smith LLP.
Monster Beverage Corp. is represented by Marc P. Miles of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP and Lynda Zadra-Symes and Steven J. Natapausky of Knobbe Martens.
The case is Hubert Hansen Intellectual Property Trust et al. v. The Coca-Cola Company et al., case number 3:16-cv-01895 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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