SodaStream tells Coke that copyright suit is garbage

Israel-based home soda machine maker refuses to stop using Coke bottles in its ads

Israel-based home soda machine manufacturer SodaStream is refusing to bow to demands from Coca-Cola that it desist from using the soft drink brand’s bottles in its ads.

Instead it has decided to double down.

SodaStream has a number of displays in cities around the world with cages filled with empty plastic soda bottles, part of a campaign to show that buying soft drinks fills up landfills while its product, which employs reusable bottles and CO₂ canisters, is more environmentally friendly.

A display at an airport in Johannesburg drew the ire of Coca-Cola, which threatened, in two letters earlier this month, to sue the Airport City-based firm.

Instead, SodaStream announced it would erect another display in Centenial Olympic Park in Atlanta, where Coca-Cola is based.

SodaStream products. (photo credit: sodastream.co.il)

“No one’s going to shut us up with a lawyer’s letter,” SodaStream Chief Executive Officer Daniel Birnbaum told Bloomberg News. “Not in South Africa or anywhere.”

Coca-Cola reportedly threatened to take SodaStream to court over copyright infringement.

The company said in a statement that it was committed to “recycling and sustainable packaging,” Bloomberg reported.

The two companies worked together in the past to design SodaStream packaging to look less like Coca-Cola’s, according to Forbes.