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Oh My, the Plot Thickens
- 6-4-2010
- Categorized in: Pet Food News
Purina Pet Food Executive Brenda Bax applied for a patent that seems to control corporations (any corporation) working with Animal Welfare Organizations. By the way, Brenda Bax also sits on the Board of Directors for Delta Society; the same charity that just banned raw fed pets from participating in charity visitations.
Weeks ago The Delta Society, a national charity responsible for training and organizing pet visitations to hospitals and nursing homes made a bold announcement that it would ban from its Pet Partner program all pets fed a raw food diet. Pet owners nationwide were shocked and angry over Delta Society's' basically unscientifically founded decision. Then it was discovered that a corporate executive for Purina Pet Food sits on the board of Delta Society. And now a new twist.
Brenda Bax, Marketing Director for Purina Pet Food and Delta Society Board of Directors member has applied for a very unusual patent; "Methods for marketing corporate brands". The patent Ms. Bax is seeking is basically a means for Big Corporations to work through animal charities (use animal charities) to develop a specific marking plan to pitch their products. Nothing new in marketing really, but what is puzzling and concerning is a pet food company wishing to patent a system where an animal charity works with a corporation for donations.
The Abstract of the patent Ms. Bax of Purina Pet Food...
"Abstract: Business methods are provided for marketing and increasing sales of corporate products or brands by collecting information about one or more animal welfare organizations, collecting information from one or more consumers about animal welfare, and processing the animal welfare organization information and the consumer information to design a marketing program executable by the corporation that enables the consumer to interact with the animal welfare organization."
When you read on it gets very concerning...
"Claims:
1. A method of marketing a corporate brand comprising: collecting information about at least one animal welfare organization; collecting information from at least one consumer about animal welfare; and using at least one of the animal welfare organization information and the consumer information to design a brand marketing program executable by the corporation that enables the consumer to interact with the animal welfare organization.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the animal welfare organization must meet a specified requirement to be a part of the marketing program.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the marketing program benefits the corporation by increasing marketing opportunities for the corporation.
14. A method for improving animal welfare comprising: collecting information about at least one animal welfare organization in a database; collecting information from at least one consumer about animal welfare in the database; using the animal welfare organization information and the consumer information to design a marketing program for a corporation; and rewarding the animal welfare organization based on a performance of the marketing program.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising rewarding the AWO (Animal Welfare Organization) based on the association of a marketed brand of the corporation with the AWO.
16. The method of claim 14 wherein the animal welfare organization must meet a specified requirement to be a part of the marketing program.
20. A method of marketing a corporate brand comprising: collecting information about at least one animal welfare organization through a first website connected to an internet; collecting information from at least one consumer about animal welfare through a second website connected to the internet; and processing the animal welfare organization information and the consumer information on a central computer processor to design a brand marketing program executable by the corporation that enables the consumer to interact with the animal welfare organization through the internet."
I am confused and concerned. Why would Purina Pet Food want to patent a marketing method associated with an Animal Welfare Organization? Is this patent application a concern to all Animal Welfare Organizations that do not currently work with Purina Pet Food? Does this patent provide Purina Pet Food control over all other corporations working with/donating to an Animal Welfare Organization?
Is/was Delta Society their first test market and the "wherein the animal welfare organization must meet a specified requirement to be a part of the marketing program" was the ban of pets fed a raw diet?
Purina has not been shy in the patent department. Wysong Pet Foods sued Purina, and won, revoking a patent Purina was provided for a Dr. Wysong invention. Fifteen years prior to the Purina patent, Dr. Wysong invented the probiotic application technology. The Wysong Pet Food website states that Purina (Nestec) "has reportedly been collecting licensing fees from companies internationally for the use of the patent's technology, and attempting to force those who would not comply - such as Wysong - into costly patent litigation." http://www.wysong.net/wysong-vs-purina.php
So again, for legal minds out there, I have to ask...Could this patent, if provided to Brenda Bax of Purina Pet Food, be a means for Purina Pet Food to permanently link itself to every Animal Welfare Organization and at the same time preventing other corporations from working with animal charities (or at best forcing other corporations to pay Purina a patent fee)? Is this patent a means for spying on pet owners, collecting personal data for marketing purposes under the trusted pretense of an Animal Welfare Organization?
I'm not sure, but I am very concerned. A patent, held by a major pet food company, for a corporation to link itself with an Animal Welfare Organization seems wrong no matter how you look at it. All Animal Welfare Organizations desperately need money to continue their work, my concern (which could be based on not completely understanding the potential effects of this patent) is the possibility of other animal charities getting caught up in the legal issues of this patent and end up losing funds in the future.
Delta Society, your decision to ban raw fed pets from participating in your Pet Partner programs denies a pet owners basic freedoms; the freedom of choice. Further, and possibly more concerning let's hope your corporate associations don't compromise the future of other animal charities.
To read the full Brenda Bax of Purina Pet Food patent application visit http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090254418
My thanks to the very wise pet owner that alerted me to this patent concern!
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Sounds like they're now trying to capitalize on the fact that they have historically been a pretty good source of donated dog food. Also sounds like now in order to get food donations an organization will have to actively promote that brand of food.
When someone adopts a pet from us that I have fostered I talk to the new parents pretty strongly--I tell them that any food they can buy at the grocery store or Wally is basic garbage, I tell them where they can buy quality meat to make their own dog food (or cat food), I give them recipes, and point out all the bad ingredients in dog foods--best I can do. However I will not promote Purina, or any other garbage brand. I'm too old to just crawl under some corporation's thumb and lay down and die. The dogs I foster eat the same things my dogs eat, out of my own pocket. They probably will hook a lot of organizations in this way. We're all struggling, money is nearly nonexistent......
what on earth is going on at the patent office? Monsanto can patent life causing untold grief, now the corporations can patent ideas based on information gathered from at least one person????? None of this makes any sense to me, we seem to be moving more and more to a fascist form of government......
Anybody know what Obama feeds his dog?
I sent an email to the White House asking...no response.
Probably the same cr@p he feeds the media
Tania your comment has nothing to do with pets or petfood. Has nothing to do with the article. Keep political useless comment to yourself or boards for talking crap politics.
This application should be rejected as what they describe has so much prior "art" that these tactics are in common practice in every business vertical.
Congratulations on your appointment as board moderator. I wasn't aware Susan had advertised the position.
If I was moderator I would have happily deleted your offtopic useless post.
Check-out Purina's other patent application for BRAND SUSTAINABILITY INDEX http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100138279
There is ALWAYS a plot when Purina is sleazing their way into some pet organization. Always strings. Always advertising plastered everywhere, Purina has ruined X-Files reruns for me, the evil bastids! just the sound of David Duchovnys voice makes me queasy now because of the Purina taint.
I do not think that letting a Purina minion infiltrate the service animal area is smart, letting Purina DICTATE how things should be done is reprehensible and dishonors the very idea of service!
Trust Purina to find a way to take pets and their people who are doing a good thing and twist it to try and put pet owners under their nasty thumb!
So you want to volunteer? Tow the Purina line and feed what we tell you , spend your money on OUR product, it is slyly sinister , so perfectly planned to FEED on a pet owners feelings, you have to admire the way Purina manipulates the average pet owner who watches too many TV ads.
Seriously, do they speak english in what? I can't even begin to understand the language of this patent.
Why do big corps. have to turn something nice into something complicated? Can't they just donate some money and have that be the end of it? Doing something nice with expecting nothing in return is the definition of charity.
Maybe it is time for a national boycott of Purina products and Delta Society. Delta Society brings in a lot of $$ through service/therapy dog certifications each year (renewal are not cheap). Exposing the public to both of these ploys is a way to raise awareness and expose Purina's evil plan.
Haven't used Purina anything since '75 or so when my brother, who worked on a big "chicken Ranch" in CA, told me where they hauled the stuff they cleaned off the chicken house floors! There must be something more we can do.......maybe someone who can understand it better than I do can shed some light on what it all means.
Just curious who the dog is at the header of the article? breed?
They may not have a marketting patent yet, but they are already preventing rescue groups from having say in the nutrition of our rescued animals when we use petsmart to try and find homes for them. Petsmart is under strict contract to only feed Purina kibble to the cats. Even if a cat requires a special diet (has grain allergies UTI issues, etc) they will throw away any food provided by the rescue group and feed it purina kibble. I was also not allowed to mention that the cats were fed raw food nor provide any dietary into to adopters.
They dont care about health, only about money.