In Defense of Anagorism

political economy in the non-market, non-state sector

Where’s intellectual property law when you need it?

On a recent visit to a dupermarket I couldn’t help noticing a largely harmless exercise in greenwashing, tooting their horn about the fact that about 0.01% of their packaging by weight is made of corn-based plastics.  The tamper-evident seal on the box of Quaker® Multi-Grain Hot Cereal is made of EarthFirst® PLA film and NatureWorks® polymer. Whoa, back up a step! Obviously EarthFirst® is not to be confused with Earth First!

Quaker Oats carton with "Earth First" logo
Quaker Oats carton with “Earth First” logo

I suppose this is par for the course. The Quaker Oats Company itself took its name from an already-existing organization. Naturally they sued the real Quakers for trademark infringement!

Comments

3 responses to “Where’s intellectual property law when you need it?”

  1. […] Long followed links in this post and ended up on this post revealing a humorous exchange  between a lawyer for Quaker Oats and some […]

  2. Lindsay Avatar

    If anything, these jokers will be the ones suing EarthFirst!

    *is angry*

    1. n8chz Avatar

      Why would a maker of tamper-resistant devices name itself after a monkeywrenching organization, anyway?

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