Turkey: Petition against misleading brand of Monsanto

Monsanto has submitted an application to the Turkish Patent Institute for their brand Biodirect. The term “Bio”, just like "organic" and "ecological", is under legal protection in Turkey. Only firms with organic production can use it in their branding.

If Monsanto's application of 21 March 2013 to the Turkish Patent Institute for the Biodirect brand is successful, it will be able to produce chemicals not even remotely related to "organic", deceiving consumers who want to stay away from GMOs and/or conventional food, the organic association Bugday says. All related regulations in Turkey (including Organic Agriculture Law, No: 5262, Consumer Law, No: 4077, Copyright for Brands Law, No: 556) are very clear on this point: "Brands that could deceive people about quality, properties, production location, geographical mark and so on, shall not be accepted."
 

A petition was launched for the Turkish Patent Institute, which is also delivered to the institute as an official letter. It is requested that the Turkish Patent Institute rejects Monsanto’s application for Biodirect and the intentional deception of consumers. The petition and more information is available here: http://www.change.org/tr
(Turkish expressions in the fields to insert: Izim = name, soyad = surname, posta kodu = zip code, Bu senin icin neden önemli? Istege bagli. = Why is this subject important to you? Please fill in, if you want., Imzani at = send)