Sunday, 8. March 2009
Topic: food - on March 8, 2009 at 12:24:00 PM CET
Nestle Sues Company That Came Up A Product 15 Years Before Nestle Patented It...
Today's story of patent insanity comes to us courtesy of Wysong, a small natural pet foods company that came up with a method to put probiotics in foods in the early 80s. The company used the technique to sell pet food biscuits that supposedly have certain health benefits. As its products became more popular, the company saw copycats come into the market, but figured it helped everyone (including the pets), and there was nothing wrong with that. Then... fifteen years later, Nestle, the owner of Purina, happened to patent the very same process and, a few years later, sued Wysong, demanding royalties all the way back to when it got its patent.
... Comment
