With apologies to Kamyar Enshayan, who, many years ago, coined the term
"Moneysanto."
Tom
Subj: Monsanto in snit over use of "Roundup, Ready"
Date: 8/30/2005 4:03:56 AM Central Daylight Time
From: [log in to unmask] (Laurel Hopwood)
Sender: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A> (Biotech Forum)
To: [log in to unmask]
THE AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER
August 30, 2005, Issue #420
Monitoring Corporate Agribusiness From a Public Interest Perspective
EDITOR\PUBLISHER; A.V. Krebs
E-MAIL: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ea1.com/CARP/
TO RECEIVE: Send name and address
MONSANTO IN SNIT OVER USE OF "ROUNDUP, READY"
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tom Philpott a writer and farmer in the Appalachians of
North Carolina.
His farm/sustainable-ag non-profit is called Maverick Farms
http://www.maverickfarms.org
and his Web log can be found in his Bitter Greens Journal
http://www.bittergreensgazette.blogspot.com
MONSANTO TO BITTER GREENS: "CEASE" AND DESIST
Yesterday the farming project I work for, Maverick Farms, received the
following extraordinary e-mail. I don't have time to respond now, as we're
scrambling to put on our monthly farm dinner. Given Monsanto's record of
suing farmers, I suppose I should stifle guffaws and take it seriously. For
now, though, I'll delight in having tweaked a transnational corporation
valued in the marketplace at a cool $17 billion. Here's the letter. I will
respond when I get a chance. (Readers should also note that I'm putting the
finishing touches on a post about the current oil crunch.)
Dear Mr. Philpott,
I am the trademark and copyright attorney for Monsanto Company, the owner
of the Roundup Ready(R) trademark. The attached link is to the Bitter
Greens Journal which features the name "Roundup, ready" as the title of one
of its features. Roundup Ready(R) is a well known trademark which is
registered by Monsanto not only in the United States, but in many countries
throughout the word [sic]. As you have pointed out in the column, Roundup
Ready(R) is famous in the agricultural industry.
While you have stated in your column that you chose the name "Roundup,
ready" in honor of Monsanto's famed line of seeds, we must object to this
use and request that you change the name for the following reasons:
1) You are using our trademark without our consent. This use of the term
could cause your readers to think that your journal is in some way
sponsored by Monsanto or that Monsanto supports the positions set out in
your journal.
2) You are using our trademark in an incorrect manner (with a comma and in
a way that genericizes the mark). This weakens our trademark rights.
I would appreciate your confirmation that you will change the name of this
column and cease using "Roundup, ready" or any form of our trademark as the
name of a feature or in an incorrect manner in your journal. We appreciate
your cooperation in this matter.
Very truly yours,
Barb Bunning-Stevens
Assistant General Counsel - Trademarks
BITTER GREENS RESPONDS TO MONSANTO
Monday, August 29, 2005
As I reported Friday, Monsanto contacted me to "request" that I cease using
the headline "Roundup, ready," a title I use for an occasional feature that
rounds up food-politics news. Here is my response:
Dear Ms. Bunning-Stevens,
Although it's comical for a corporation with upwards of $5 billion in
annual revenue to harass an obscure blogger who helps run a 2.5-acre farm,
the tone of your letter is earnest; so I will reply earnestly.
Your arguments seem specious to me, and I therefore I must refuse to cease
using "Roundup, ready" as the title for an occasional feature on my Web
log.
You write that "[t]his use of the term could cause your readers to think
that your journal is in some way sponsored by Monsanto or that Monsanto
supports the positions set out in your journal." Yet my journal clearly
presents itself as a "running critique of industrial agriculture," and from
its first post on has made no secret of its distaste for Monsanto and its
particular style of industrial agriculture.
I doubt you will be able to dig up a single reader who, after perusing a
"Roundup, ready" post, will think to himself, "Now this fellow must be on
the Monsanto dole!"
To further clarify my position on Monsanto, and to underline my
institutional, financial, and ideological independence from it, I'm
considering placing a new feature along the left-hand side of my blog.
Titled "Bitter Greens on Monsanto," it would be a compilation of clickable
headlines to the 15 or so posts that have mentioned your company. Would
that go some way toward distancing our two entities?
Nor am I persuaded by the claim that my use of a comma in "Roundup, ready"
somehow "weakens [Monsanto's] trademark rights." If I were in the business
of genetically altering seeds so that they could withstand copious
applications of herbicides, and I were marketing my product under the brand
"Roundup, ready," cheekily trying to leverage Monsanto's marketing might
and hoping the comma would protect me from copyright troubles, I would
certainly tremble in fear on being contacted by a Monsanto attorney. And I
would immediately cease and desist that dubious practice.
However, I am selling nothing. I am a polemicist employing (in the case of
"Roundup, ready") satire to advance the cause of locally based, organic
agriculture. If I'm able with my writing to stop a farmer from buying your
product, then it will be due to the force of my arguments, not to any
confusion regarding your trademark.
With all due respect, it seems to me that rather than protect your
trademark from any serious threat, what you're really trying to do is
intimidate a political opponent into ceasing what is surely
Constitutionally protected speech. And so, as I stated above, I must
decline your request. And I will redouble my efforts to study and write
about the practices of your company.
Respectfully,
Tom Philpott
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Join us at Sierra Summit 2005. For information go to:
http://www.sierrasummit2005.org/
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp