Sara Lee (SLE) Sued By Nestle Over Coffee Product

Nestle SA NSRGY has filed a lawsuit in a French court against rival Sara Lee Corp. SLE. Nestle SA claims in the lawsuit that patents covering its Nespresso coffee machine have been infringed upon by Sara Lee's (SLE) introduction to the market of popular single-serve coffee capsules for the Nespresso coffee machine. The Sara Lee coffee capsules have proven popular because they are less expensive than those already being sold by Nestle. Sara Lee already produces the Senseo coffee maker, which is actually more popular than Nestle's Nespresso coffee machines and less expensive. However, Downers Grove, Illinois-based Sara Lee is taking aim at the higher-end Nespresso coffee capsules. In unrelated news, Sara Lee announced a day ago that Chairman and CEO Brenda Barnes recently had a stroke. Marcel Smits has been named interim CEO of Sara Lee and James Crown is currently serving as chairman.