In a ruling that seemed disappointingly simple, Molson Coors Beverage Company v. Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC, No. 19-2713 (7th Cir. 2020), the Seventh Circuit said Bud Light can continue to say that Coors Light and Miller Lite use corn syrup in their beers. Because . . . well, because they admit they do. Since the corn syrup is only used in the fermentation and is not on in the beer itself, Molson Coors argued, and the lower court earlier agreed, and constrained Bud Light from overstating its claims. So Bud Light could continue to say the Coors and Miller brands were “brewed with” or “made with” or “use” corn syrup, but could not say the beers “contain” it.
The Seventh Circuit ended the hair-splitting about what Bud Light can or can?t say. Its ruling hinged on the fact that Molson Coors admits itself that it lists corn syrup as one of its “ingredients,” the three-panel court said. “By choosing a word such as ?ingredients? with multiple potential meanings, Molson Coors brought this problem on itself,” the court said. “It is enough for us to hold that it is not ?false or misleading? for a seller to say or imply, of a business rival, something that the rival says about itself.”
Said Seventh Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook “If I see an ingredient listed on the back of a corn flakes box, I expect that ingredient to be in the product.” In the ruling the judges underscore that “This case is and always has been simple.”