Frank Robinson says he has the real thing and wants to sell it.
Robinson, great-grandson of the co-founder of Coca-Cola Co., said he needs money, so he wants to sell what he says is the original formula for the soft drink.Coke says it's not the real thing.
"I don't have any loyalty to Coca-Cola," Robinson told The Wall Street Journal in a story published Friday.
But before the 57-year-old former commercial airline pilot can sell the recipe, he may have to fight for it.
Robinson's estranged wife, Patti, said he gave her the formula and other Coca-Cola documents as a gift before they married in 1981, and she wants to keep it.
The two were to meet in court Friday as part of a larger disagreement over support money during their separation.
Coca-Cola has insisted that Robinson's formula is a fake and is among many claiming to be the original. In 1905, for example, an advertisement in the Southern Carbonator and Bottler newsletter offered the recipe for $50.
"I've seen dozens of these things," Coca-Cola archivist Phil Mooney said. "They're not even close."
Of the real recipe, Mooney said, "Nobody's seen it." It is locked up in an Atlanta vault, known only to a few executives of the Atlanta-based soft drink company.
Different versions of the Coca-Cola recipe, published in several books, include ingredients such as caffeine, lime juice, sugar, cola leaf and a mysterious mixture of oils from lemon, orange, coriander, nutmeg and cinnamon.
But Robinson is the first Coca-Cola descendant to claim he owns it, the Journal said.
Patti Robinson, meanwhile, said she has no doubt the recipe is the key to Coca-Cola. She has no interest in its market value and wants to give it to their 13-year-old son when he is an adult.