It's 1972 and nearly five dozen people are dialing into the same conference call.

They're the members of the Gatorade Trust, a group formed by Gatorade's original inventors and early backers.

What started as just nine people has since grown to 46 members, and each of them receives

a percentage of the royalties from every gallon of Gatorade sold.

By now, this adds up to real money.

But on this call, the Trust faces an uncomfortable decision, whether to accept a settlement

that gives part of these royalties to the University of Florida.

No one on the line is happy about this possibility, because years earlier, the university

had its chance and passed. When Gatorade's primary inventor, Dr. Robert

Cade, first approached the school about helping develop Gatorade as a business, the university

said no. So Cade and his team of researchers took the formula elsewhere, eventually partnering

with the food and beverage company Stokely Van Camp, and

Stokely ran with it.

They launched Gatorade as a supplier and sponsor for sports teams around the country,

and then pushed it into supermarkets nationwide.

By 1972, Kate estimates that the trust is earning somewhere between $25,000 and $2.5 million a year, or between $200,000 and $19 million today.

That's when the University of Florida reconsidered their position. The school sued the Gatorade

Trust for back payments and a share of future royalties.

Then, the situation got messier.

The U.S. government stepped in, arguing that because federal grants helped fund the original research,

they also had a legitimate claim on Gatorade.

Now, the legal bills are piling up, the royalties are

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