Coca Cola 2008 Annual Report Download - page 13

We own numerous trademarks that are very important to our business. Depending upon the jurisdiction,
trademarks are valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained. Pursuant to
our Bottler’s Agreements, we authorize our bottlers to use applicable Company trademarks in connection with
their manufacture, sale and distribution of Company products. In addition, we grant licenses to third parties
from time to time to use certain of our trademarks in conjunction with certain merchandise and food products.
Governmental Regulation
Our Company is required to comply, and it is our policy to comply, with applicable laws in the numerous
countries throughout the world in which we do business. In many jurisdictions, compliance with competition laws
is of special importance to us, and our operations may come under special scrutiny by competition law
authorities due to our competitive position in those jurisdictions.
The production, distribution and sale in the United States of many of our Company’s products are subject
to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; the Federal Trade Commission Act; the Lanham Act; state
consumer protection laws; federal, state and local workplace health and safety laws; various federal, state and
local environmental protection laws; and various other federal, state and local statutes and regulations
applicable to the production, transportation, sale, safety, advertising, labeling and ingredients of such products.
Outside the United States, the production, distribution and sale of our many products and related operations are
also subject to numerous similar and other statutes and regulations.
A California law requires that a specific warning appear on any product that contains a component listed by
the state as having been found to cause cancer or birth defects. This law exposes all food and beverage producers
to the possibility of having to provide warnings on their products because it recognizes no generally applicable
quantitative thresholds below which a warning is not required. Consequently, even trace amounts of listed
components can subject an affected product to the requirement of a warning label. Products containing listed
substances that occur naturally or that are contributed to such products solely by a municipal water supply are
generally exempt from the warning requirement. No Company beverages produced for sale in California are
currently required to display warnings under this law. We are unable to predict whether a component found in a
Company product might in the future be added to the California lists pursuant to this law and the related
regulations as they currently exist, or as they may be amended. The state has, however, initiated a regulatory
process in which caffeine will be evaluated for listing. Furthermore, we are also unable to predict when or
whether the increasing sensitivity of detection methodology might result in the detection of an infinitesimal
quantity of a listed substance in a Company beverage produced for sale in California.
Bottlers of our beverage products presently offer and use nonrefillable, recyclable containers in the United
States and various other markets around the world. Some of these bottlers also offer and use refillable
containers, which are also recyclable. Legal requirements apply in various jurisdictions in the United States and
overseas requiring that deposits or certain ecotaxes or fees be charged for the sale, marketing and use of certain
nonrefillable beverage containers. The precise requirements imposed by these measures vary. Other types of
statutes and regulations relating to beverage container deposits, recycling, ecotaxes and/or product stewardship
also apply in various jurisdictions in the United States and overseas. We anticipate that additional, similar legal
requirements may be proposed or enacted in the future at local, state and federal levels, both in the United
States and elsewhere.
All of our Company’s facilities and other operations in the United States and elsewhere around the world
are subject to various environmental protection statutes and regulations, including those relating to the use of
water resources and the discharge of wastewater. Our policy is to comply with all such legal requirements.
Compliance with these provisions has not had, and we do not expect such compliance to have, any material
adverse effect on our Company’s capital expenditures, net income or competitive position.
11