Pepsi helps Coca-Cola in trade secrets case

Rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi is legendary and fierce but when Pepsi was offered some of Coca-Cola's trade secrets for sale, the company went straight to its rival with the information.

Now, after an elaborate FBI sting, three people face charges of stealing secrets, including a sample of a new drink being developed from Coca-Cola and trying to sell them to PepsiCo.

"We only did what any responsible company would do. Competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal. We're pleased the authorities and the FBI have identified the people responsible for this," Pepsi spokesman Dave DeCecco said. The suspects include Coca-Cola employee Joya Williams, who was caught by a video surveillance camera going through files at Coca-Cola headquarters and stuffing documents into bags. The video footage also shows her holding a liquid container with a white label, which the company says is a new Coca-Cola product sample, and putting it into her bag. The story began in early May, when Pepsi received a letter on a Coca-Cola letterhead from someone claiming to be a Coca-Cola employee and offering to sell "detailed and confidential" information. Pepsi passed the letter to Coca-Cola, who alerted the police.

An FBI agent posed as a Pepsi employee, expressing an interest in the offer of information and started negotiating with a man who called himself Dirk. Prosecutors say that, at a meeting at Atlanta airport, one of the defendants gave an FBI undercover agent documents marked "highly confidential" and a drink sample, in return for $30,000 (€23,000) in a Girl Scout cookie box. Ms Williams and her co-accused, Ibrahim Dimson and Edmund Duhaney, were arrested on Wednesday as they prepared to receive a final payment of $1.5 million in return for more documents.

Coca-Cola said the formula for Coca-Cola Classic, the firm's most closely-guarded secret, was never at risk but said that the documents offered for sale contained valid trade secrets. The information appears to focus on plans for a new drink, the details of which Coca-Cola declined to offer.