Keurig Fights To Dismiss All Antitrust Claims Brought Against It

On July 9, 2015, the Southern District of New York heard oral argument on Keurig Green Mountain's motions to dismiss the three complaints filed by the following plaintiffs: Keurig's competitors (Treehouse Foods, Inc., Bay Valley Foods, LLC, and Sturm Foods, Inc.); Keurig's direct purchasers; and Keurig's indirect purchasers.  All three complaints essentially challenge the same alleged activities: (1) Keurig's design of its 2.0 brewer to purposefully exclude the use of non-Keurig cups; (2) Keurig's creation of over 600 exclusionary contracts with its suppliers and distributors to prevent Keurig's competitors from selling to office customers; (3) Keurig's filing of a baseless patent infringement lawsuit against Treehouse in order to prevent the sale of non-Keurig cups; and (4) Keurig's deception of retailers and consumers about the "lock out" mechanism on the 2.0 brewer and how the mechanism would prevent compatibility with non-Keurig cups.