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Comment by gerggerg | Hacker News Reader

So coca-cola has a legal monopoly on the use of an ingredient. Seems like pretty unfair business practices to me.

I imagine it's possible for some competitor to set up a similar arrangement. The government just likes to make it a PITA.

>I imagine it's possible for some competitor to set up a similar arrangement.

In theory. Coca-Cola is rumored to be pretty friendly with US intelligence and would likely lobby against a competitor getting a similar coca import arrangement.

Sure, yeah, but lots of things you might want to do with a business require a permit or approval or waiver from the government. I'm not sure that is inherently unfair in practice.

There is a huge difference between a permit and an agreement with the DEA.

Uh, how so? You could request DEA permission too. There's a form on their website. (But be aware the application fee is nonrefundable.)

Coca-Cola's market dominance probably has epsilon to do with their formulation.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, but if not, why then would they regard their formula as such a secret that the only two people allowed to know it may not fly together in case the plane should go down? As a diversion form their business practices?

It's a marketing tactic.

This.

Especially when it also mentions the recipe is stored in a vault. BOTH recipe mixers could instantly cease to exist and the Coca Cola company would not miss a beat in terms of selling mass quantities of their product.

Brand mystique?

Probably but it's still unfair (if the deal really is exclusive). It's also interesting how many goods are never invented due to the fact that experimenting with many substances is prohibitively expensive.

I wonder if the coca leaves could be processed outside the US and then imported.

Sounds like the Stepan Corporation has an effective monopoly on the manufacture of cocaine-free coca leaves. That really says nothing about a restriction on their use.

"In fact, the United States (and most other nations) expressly prohibits the sale and trade of coca leaves. In order for Coca-Cola to continue to exist in its current form, the company has a special arrangement with the Drug Enforcement Administration"

The article makes it seem as though Coca-Cola has an exclusive arrangement that involves funneling leaves through a chemicals company. It doesn't mention anything about Stepan being the only chemical company that can process the leaves for other reasons.

It doesn't mention anything about it being exclusive either. Just special.

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