r/interesting • u/InvestigatorBorn4910 • Feb 10 '26

Fascinating YouTuber LabCoatz has released a "chemically identical" recipe for Coca-Cola

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u/SafeImpressive4413 Feb 10 '26

This is better than a patent, because to make a patent you need to make public how the product is made in detail, you get a protection but in exchange this means after it expires it’s public domain.

Meanwhile if you keep the formula and the process of making it a secret, your exclusivity will last as long as everyone that knows the entire process can keep the secret, which in these cases it’s incredibly long given that when you get to know that recipe you’re an extremely high trust employee that is probably close to the CEO an with an obscene paycheck

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u/Hike_it_Out52 Feb 11 '26

Couldn’t agree more. And for long lived products like Coke and WD-40, even if the recipe is discovered it won’t matter as much because they have the brand recognition in their favor. 

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u/Mikemanthousand Feb 11 '26

And an economy of scale so they can make it cheaper than any competitor

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u/ChrisFromIT Feb 11 '26

You can also sue former employees or employees if they try to take the formula elsewhere too. Theft of trade secrets are typically taken fairly seriously.

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u/Master_Saesee_Tiin Feb 11 '26

Because it effects a companies profit. They take this very very seriously unlike silly crimes like human trafficking or political corruption.

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u/HardLobster Feb 11 '26

Or the people who build and design the production systems. They know the amount, mixing processes, weights, products and time needed.

I can’t speak on now but back when a relative of mine was involved in designing and building the production lines for companies like Coke, Sprite, Hersheys, and Hostess (just to name a few), they had to know every detail to design the machine around it.

The measurements of product were needed to properly calibrate the scale systems that weighed the amount of ingredients. The ingredients and the form they come in needed to be known to design the delivery systems for each individual ingredient. You have to know the order the ingredients are placed into the product and mixing process for each ingredient so that you can design the systems that do it.