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Lincoln Coffee Company Wins Legal Battle With Keurig

LINCOLN (CBS13) — A family-run coffee company won a court battle with the popular Keurig Coffee Company over the design of its coffee pods.

Rogers Family Coffee president Jon Rogers' passion has always been coffee. For years, the company has been roasting beans, and added 200 employees along the way.

In recent years, the popularity of single-serve coffee pods led him to consider a shift in his business. He felt his coffee had to become compatible with Keurig coffee makers. Before he figured out a way to do that, an Italian company came to him with a different kind of pod that was compatible with Keurig machines.

"We looked at it, and we tasted it, and we think it has better infusion that way," Rogers said.

After he started making the pods, Keurig served his company with a lawsuit claiming the pods were too similar to theirs.

"You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind to think ours are his, because we have that soft mesh material," he said.

For more than a year, the Lincoln company was in a legal battle with Keurig. A judge ruled recently that Rogers wasn't in violation of Keurig's patents.

"The ruling is the greatest thing in the world," Rogers said.

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