Colgate Tries to Patent Traditional Indian Herbal Toothpaste

Here’s one for your overstuffed Corporation as Public Menace file folder.

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.