Rivals are at it again as Duracell sues Energizer over battery-life claims

Duracell and Energizer are back in court. This time it’s Duracell suing Energizer for claiming its batteries last longer. But the two battery giants have a long and litigious history, in an American corporate rivalry almost as old as Coke vs. Pepsi. 

A recent ad campaign for Energizer MAX batteries claims that they outlast Duracell Power Boost batteries by 10%, that this fact is “proven,” and concludes that Energizer’s products “last longer. ’Nuff said.” This, says Duracell’s lawsuit, caused irreparable harm and damaged customer goodwill. The ads ran on nationwide TV and online.

Duracell says Energizer is basing its claim of superiority on one comparison by the American National Standards Institute, based on personal grooming products, and does not apply to all Duracell batteries. Duracell believes Energizer is guilty of false advertising, and is seeking damages and “corrective advertising.”

This is not dissimilar to the last time the two companies showed up in court, just five years ago, over the exact same issue: whether Duracell Optimum or Energizer MAX batteries lasted longer. The two companies managed to talk that one out; in December 2020, both lawsuits were voluntarily dismissed.  

Consumer comparisons split the difference: each battery is stronger for different purposes. 

In 2022, it was Energizer that won a seven-year court case against Duracell in a Canadian court, arguing that Duracell packaging couldn’t claim its products lasted longer than Energizer products, because that contravened trademark law. However, it did allow that Duracell could use similar stickering claiming it was superior to “the bunny brand” or “the next leading competitive brand.”

Similarly, in 2016, Energizer successfully sued Duracell for using a pink bunny in ads — even though Duracell was using a pink bunny 16 years before Energizer’s iconic “just keeps going and doing” ad campaign that began in 1989. 

The rivalry goes back almost 80 years, when Duracell entered the market in 1946. Energizer’s roots date back to the Ever Ready company of 1890; Ever Ready invented the AA battery in 1907. As a point of comparison, the soda wars started when Pepsi Cola, founded in 1893, first threatened Coca-Cola, founded in 1886.