On June 12, 2014, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Pom Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co., No. 12-761, holding that Lanham Act false-advertising claims are not pre-empted by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) or related Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) regulations. In that case, POM Wonderful LLC (“POM”), a pomegranate-juice beverage producer, sued its competitor, Coca-Cola Company (“Coca-Cola”), under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, claiming that Coca-Cola’s “Pomegranate Blueberry” juice beverage was falsely labeled because, in reality, the beverage contained about “99.4% apple and grape juices,” and only “0.3% pomegranate juice” and “0.2% blueberry juice.” Slip op. at 5-6. In proceedings below, Coca-Cola successfully argued that POM’s Lanham Act claim should be dismissed because it was pre-empted by the FDCA and FDA regulations, which permitted Coca-Cola’s type of beverage labeling. Specifically, the FDA allows beverage labels to list flavoring juices that are not the predominant juice contained in the beverage.
