Pepsi charges Coke with more poaching of officials

NEW DELHI, May 25: Pepsi has accused Coca Cola of continuing with poaching of its key officials and also targetting independent consultants, business partners and trade outlets.

In a rejoinder filed before the Delhi High Court on Monday, Pepsi said Coke was utilising preliminary competitive data gathered by it about Pepsi’s key partners and they were being individually targetted. Pepsi Counsel K K Venugopal pleaded for an interim injunction from the court to immediately put a stop to the poaching of employees and business associates. "These employees are being contacted regularly on the phone and personally through Coca Cola employees or independent consultants," he said, adding these efforts were part of a persistent and conscious strategy to target key employees of Pepsi.

The Court adjourned the case to Tuesday after two-hour long arguments on Monday. Venugopal said the management of Coke was inducing the entire staff of Goa Bottling Company, a former Coke bottler which became a Pepsi franchisee a fewmonths ago, to breach the agreement between the company and Pepsi. He said the employees being targetted by Coke are privy to proprietary strategic information which was confidential and therefore, if such employees are taken away, such proprietary confidential information would fall in the hands of Coke.