The city of Philadelphia evokes images of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Declaration of Independence and the constitutional conventions. Each of these great and meaningful historic places and events focused on words and their meaning. Since there continues to be a debate over the intent and meaning of those famous words, it seems appropriate that Philadelphia has been home to several lawsuits involving the increasingly lucrative market for artificial sweeteners.
Although we do not know if Gene E.K. Pratter and John R. Padova prefer any type of sweetener in their coffee or tea, their courtrooms were home to some battles in the billion-dollar artificial sweetener market including yellow, pink and blue packets as well as sugar, the natural sweetener. This litigation and the level at which it was conducted suggest that issues involving intellectual property rights are increasingly important aspects of the food technology industry.
