- J. C. Mayfield
J.C. Mayfield, an American businessman, bought one third of the rights to the
Pemberton Medicine Company (founded byJohn Pemberton ) in 1888. Mayfield was under the mistaken impression that he had acquired the rights toCoca-Cola , but in fact Pemberton had already sold a stake to the formula to two other individuals,Margaret Dozier andWoolfolk Walker . Moreover, Pemberton sold the rights to manufacture Coca-Cola a second time that year, toAsa Candler .Mayfield nevertheless reincorporated the Pemberton Medicine Company in 1894, as the
Wine Coca Company , and attempted to continue selling Coca-Cola (under the name ofPemberton's French Wine Coca , but with the formula modified to resemble Coke).His ex-wife, under the pseudonym
Diva Brown also attempted to sell a Coca-Cola imitation, calledMy-Cola . She claimed her beverage used Pemberton's original formula, although Mayfield disputed it.
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