Dr. Dre’s Sparkling Vodka Invites Smackdown
It’s like east coast vs. west coast all over again. From O2 Sparkling Vodka‘s press release:
O2 Sparkling Vodka, patented in 2003 after over 2 years of research and development, has been a top seller in Europe since 2002 and launched in the USA in January 2008 with great success. Dr. Dre has recently announced that this fall he is going to be marketing his own branded cognac followed by a sparkling vodka in conjunction with the release of his long anticipated album which his fans have been awaiting for almost 10 years.
Drinks Americas, Dr. Dre’s venture partner, describes Dre’s sparkling vodka as a “unique new to market sparkling vodka” in their press release of February 25, 2008. However, Dr. Dre is not the inventor as implied.
“I am very complimented that Dr. Dre has recognized how innovative and special our sparkling vodka is and is trying to copy it. My concern is that it isn’t produced by our patented method and may well turn out to be a very poor imitation,” says Philip Maitland, President of International English Distillers Ltd., inventor and patent holder of O2.
I know from experience: Don’t get these vodka guys riled up!
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Mr. Maitland should in fact have stayed an extra semester to study his science. You cannot patent bubbles and you cannot patent an element nor a compund such as O2. You also cannot patent the introduction of carbon dioxide into any other substance except for the identical process he is using for his product. Seems ot be an awful lot of talking down a product that isn’t even on the market yet to protect one that might, if it is lucky, sell 5000 cases a year.
Not carbon dioxide, but oxygen, hence ” O2 “.