MillerCoors LLC is being sued for running a mobile sweepstakes promotion in which it allegedly printed invalid promotional codes on packages of Coors Light.

The class action lawsuit suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago by Mario Aliano who bought a case of Coors Light to participate in ?The Coors Light Silver Ticket Sweepstakes.? The packaging was produced and marketed with the sweepstakes promotion printed on it.

?After purchasing the product and opening the product?s packaging, the consumer would reveal a ticket containing a code,? the lawsuit filing says. ?Instructions printed on the ticket would direct the consumer to go to the Web site to enter the code to win the prizes.

?Alternatively, the consumer could text the code to a specific text number indicated on the ticket, via cellular phone or via the Web site,? the filing says.

The lawsuit was filed against the Molson Coors Brewing Co., MillerCoors LLC and Miller Brewing Co.

The suit claims that Mr. Aliano bought the product based on the fact that he wanted a chance to win the sweepstakes, regardless of how minuscule his chances were due to the size of a nationwide campaign like this.

The plaintiff ? Mr. Aliano ? bought the product and removed the ticket. Upon submitting his code for a chance to win, he received a message that said the code was not valid, eliminating any possible chance he had to win and defeating his purpose of buying the product.

In other words, Mr. Aliano was unable to enter the sweepstakes.

The lawsuit claims that MillerCoors has received several hundred complaints from other individuals, claiming that their codes were not valid either.

MillerCoors was created almost a year ago and is a merger between Miller Brewing Co. and Coors Brewing Co.

The sweepstakes campaign promoted the opportunity to win two tickets to a NFL 2009 game and a $100 NFLShop.com gift certificate.

MillerCoors did not mention in the promotion that consumers could get tickets that were invalid and therefore would not be able to participate in the sweepstakes. Therefore, the lawsuit filing claims the promotion is fraudulent.

A MillerCoors representative said that the company does not comment on pending lawsuits. 

The lawsuit filing claims that MillerCoors knowingly issued approximately 5 million tickets that have invalid codes.

?The plaintiff claims that this is a wide spread problem and that there are 5 million invalid tickets out there, but offers no support,? said Gonzalo Mon, an attorney in the advertising law goup of lawfirm Kelley, Drye & Warren LLP, New York. ?This is probably not accurate as Coors claims on its site that it has awarded more than 300 prizes so even though some codes don?t work, some do.

?If it is just a few invalid codes, then it was a technical error and the rules of the sweepstakes have a limited liability statement on printing errors,? he said. ?If it is more widespread then it is a bit of a different story.

?In that case, Coors should have tested and taken the sweepstakes down, reinstating it once all was fixed. There are provisions in the rules, so Coors may have done everything right.?

Mr. Aliano is represented by Chicago law firm Zimmerman Law Offices. Calls to the firm were not returned in time for press.

?The product purchased by [plaintiffs] contained advertisements that promoted the sweepstakes contest and stated that a consumer would be able to enter the sweepstakes by purchasing the product and using the sweepstakes entry code on the ticket in the product packaging,? the filing says.

?[Plaintiffs] from defendants? representations and purchased the product that was produced, distributed, marketed and/or sold by the defendant,? it says.

Consumers purchased the product unaware of the fact that there are [allegedly] 5 million tickets bearing an invalid code. The beer brewer did not issue any statements or post that some of the tickets were defective and do not contain valid codes.

Additionally there is no way that a consumer could determine whether a particular package contained a valid code without buying it first, the lawsuit filing claims.

The lack of consumer awareness is really what this case is about and the suit seeks class-action status, damages, injunctive relief and attorney fees.

The plaintiff claims that Coors Light didn?t want to hinder ?a very lucrative revenue stream that would be interrupted and reduced if the general public and persons similarly situated to plaintiff were to be informed  that their purchase of the product would not result in their ability to enter into the sweepstakes for a chance to win the prize,? the suit claims.

?Although plaintiffs understand the likelihood of winning a sweepstakes in which potentially millions of people may enter is remote, millions of people nevertheless purchased the product in reliance of this chance," it says.