LEWISTON — A federal lawsuit filed by a Lewiston company asserting its right to resell pickle juice online has been settled, although the terms are not public.

Pickle Juice bottles contain no juice from actual pickles, although the ingredients do produce a slight pickle taste. Submitted photo

The case centered around claims made by a Texas company that the Lewiston company was selling counterfeit juice, which Amazon determined was fraudulent and hindered the Lewiston company’s ability to resell the pickle-tasting product.

On Monday, an order to dismiss the case was signed by U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker after legal counsel failed to file paperwork with the court necessary to terminate the case, as agreed to under a September settlement agreement.

The case was dismissed — with the settlement in place — without assessing attorney’s fees to either party, and leaves open the door for either the Lewiston-based Bags LLC or the Texas-based Pickle Juice Co. to reinstate the case within a year “if the settlement is not consummated.”

Bags, which is on East Avenue, resells bottles of the Pickle Juice Co.’s briny Pickle Juice brand online. The electrolyte juice, which is marketed as a sports drink, is becoming increasing popular with elite athletes who drink it to ease muscle cramps and contains, according to its ingredients list, dual filtered water, organic vinegar, salt, organic dill oil, organic tapioca starch, organic rosemary, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc.

The bottles contain no juice from actual pickles, although the ingredients do produce a slight pickle taste.

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Bags has a resellers license from the state of Maine to resell the pickle juice, among other food products, on Amazon.

In July, Bags filed a lawsuit against the Pickle Juice Co. alleging it was blocking the Lewiston firm from selling products through Amazon by filing false reports with the online giant that it sold counterfeit juice through its online storefront called Sebago Distribution. And, it alleges that the Pickle Juice Co. was attempting to “fix” pricing for pickle juice products, causing harm to the Lewiston business.

The lawsuit stemmed from a clash in June when Bags alleged the Pickle Juice Co. submitted false claims to Amazon that Bags was selling “fake” pickle juice products. When Amazon received those reports it suspended Bags’ ability to resell the pickle products and threatened to suspend the company’s accounts entirely, which Bags argued would decimate its business and put its 60-plus employees at risk.

Bags contacted the Pickle Juice Co. asking for it to retract its claims, but the Texas company refused.

According to court records, when Amazon’s legal department reviewed Pickle Juice Co.’s claims that the Lewiston company was selling counterfeit goods, Amazon confirmed the juice company’s claims were fraudulent and allowed Bags to continue reselling the pickle juice product.

The juice company pushed backed, saying that Bags’ sales of a “half-dozen bottles” of pickle juice — as opposed to one bottle or 12 bottles — was a trademark violation, and filed a counterclaim against Bags in August. The company also argued that Bags was confusing consumers by offering bottles of pickle juice in a bagged six-pack, which look different than the Pickle Juice Co.’s standard 12-, 24- and 48-count packs that consumers might see displayed on a grocery store shelf.

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In response, Bags argued that its business is “merely a reselling of admittedly genuine products in their original form,” and Pickle Juice Co. has no viable trademark claim.

In August, Bags filed a motion to dismiss the juice company’s counterclaims and the court scheduled a settlement conference for Sept. 25. Both parties were ordered to file settlement proposals in advance of that conference. Those documents are not publicly available.

The Pickle Juice Co. objected to the speed at which the case was moving and asked for more time, but the conference was held as scheduled, resulting in an order for Bags to submit paperwork terminating the case.

Filip Keuppens, executive vice president for the Pickle Juice Co., told the Sun Journal in a phone interview Tuesday that he couldn’t say anything about the settlement terms based on the confidentiality of the agreement, but that he was happy the case had been resolved.

“It’s unfortunate that lawsuits happen and we always try to resolve things” outside the courts, he said, especially since he operates a small company.

Asked if the lawsuit had affected sales at all, he said it had not.

“To the contrary,” he said. “We’re pretty content with how our business is going right now.”

When the lawsuit was filed in July, a 12-pack of 8-ounce bottles of Pickle Juice was available on Amazon for $22.99. The price remained unchanged Tuesday.

A message sent to Bags’ lawyer, Theodore Small of Skelton, Taintor & Abbott, had yet to be returned as of Wednesday.

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