Nespresso Dispute a’Brewing

Jean-Paul Gaillard, who was chief executive of Nestle’s Nespresso unit from 1988 to 1997, is now suing Nestle for patent infringement.  Gillard owns a business named Ethical Coffee Company, which makes coffee capsules for Nespresso machines.  In a complaint filed on January 20, 2015, Gaillard claims that Nestle introduced a harpoon mechanism in 2010, which stopped rival capsules from working properly in Nespresso machines, allegedly constituting patent infringement.  Ethical Coffee said it suffered at least $174 million in losses since this change. 

Nestle denies any claims of patent infringement and plans to fight the case in court.  Take a look at the patent in question here.