Colgate Tries to Patent Traditional Indian Herbal Toothpaste
October 25th, 2010Here’s one for your overstuffed Corporation as Public Menace file folder.
Via: Herald Sun:
A LEGAL dispute between the US and India over a herbal toothpaste is leaving a bitter aftertaste between the two countries, with Colgate Palmolive accused of filing a bogus patent.
Colgate, the world’s largest producer of toothpaste, patented a toothcleaning powder in the hope that it would take the multibillion-dollar Indian oral hygiene market by storm.
However, Indian activists claim that the patent is bogus because the ingredients – including clove oil, camphor, black pepper and spearmint – have been used for the same purpose for hundreds, “if not thousands”, of years on the subcontinent.
Imagine that, a corporation like Colgate filing a patent on a formulas used for teeth used for thousands of years.
Sheesh. Maybe they aren’t claiming its organic in their latest and greatest toothpaste, and most likely the Colgate formula includes flouride!
Yeah, I’ll be out there buying it. For sure, just like I’ll be buying a McDonald’s hamburger that doesn’t disintegrate for six years.
Public menace alright. And kudos to the Indians of India for trying to protect their culture and it’s welfare.