pedz@ctvax (07/15/85)
I had heard that the whole reason for the new Coke was that Coke was approaching 99 years old. This magic number ties in with the trade-secret laws. After a point in time, not only will the fomula for coke not be a trade-secret but the company will be forced to make the formula available to others. I got this from a rather questionable source and I am not trying to say that it is true. Can anyone comment any of this? Is Coke 99 years old? Are the trade secret laws close to what I have described above? Is space REALLY the final fronter? This theory makes much better sense to me than anything else including the cost of production theory. There must be a reason for coke to have done this since anyone could have told them that it would hurt sales. It may have been a big global plan to start with. Now that Pepsi has said some things, it would be very hard for them to come out with a coke look-alike and save face. Perry pedz@ctvax
nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) (07/18/85)
> Can anyone comment any of this? Is Coke 99 years old? Yes. > Are the trade secret laws close to what I > have described above? No. > Is space REALLY the final fronter? No, just the next one. > Perry Ed -- Ed Nather Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather nather%utastro.UTEXAS@ut-sally.ARPA
throopw@rtp47.UUCP (Wayne Throop) (07/20/85)
> I had heard that the whole reason for the new Coke was that Coke > was approaching 99 years old. This magic number ties in with > the trade-secret laws. After a point in time, not only will the > fomula for coke not be a trade-secret but the company will be > forced to make the formula available to others. Coke may be approaching 99 years old, but the notion about the "trade secret laws" turns out not to be the case. There *are* no "trade secret" laws. "Trade secrets" are simply processes and/or methods that are (surprise) *secret*. It would be a little silly for there to be laws requiring disclosure of trade secrets, and it would be more than a little contrary to (assume-deep-slick-politician-sytle-voice) our great amurricun system of governmunt (resume-normal-voice). Thus, trade secrets only expire when the coke is let out of the bag, so to speak. Now *patents* are another thing altogether. Note that it is *not possible* to patent a trade secret. (Why this is is left as an excersize for the reader.) (Also note that though the corporation may be 99 years old, the "old coke" or "classic coke" formula is somewhat younger. As others have mentioned, the original coke had *coke* in it, and was changed when this became illegal. Caffene was substituted for the cocain at that time. Anybody know exactly when this occured?) -- Wayne Throop at Data General, RTP, NC <the-known-world>!mcnc!rti-sel!rtp47!throopw