Keurig, the Reading-based maker of single-serving coffee machines, is suing a California company that makes knock-off K-cups.
In a lawsuit filed this week in US District Court in Boston, Keurig says the Rogers Family Co.'s OneCups violate two Keurig patents (here and here) for a "brew chamber for a single serve beverage brewer."
Rogers sells its single-serving containers as being fully Keurig-compliant and "rich and full bodied," yet a lot less expensive than the brands licensed by Keurig. Not only is Rogers violating the patents, by selling "cartridges" designed specifically for Keurig machines, it is encouraging end users to violate those patents by brewing up coffee, Keurig complains.
Keurig is seeking all of Rogers's profits from sales of the single-serving containers, lawyers' fees and enough money to convince Rogers to not do it again.
Recent years have seen a number of companies develop and sell this sort of coffee makers, all with incompatible cartridges or pods - just like printers.
The suit comes about a month after Keurig and Wolfgang Puck got sued by a New Jersey coffee distributor who said their Jamaica Me Crazy coffee violates its trademark on "Jamaican Me Crazy" coffee. Flavor Dynamics is seeking $1 million just in damages, charging its reputation has been damaged because people on YouTube are posting they hate its coffee, when they really hate the Keurig/Puck coffee.
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