This story comes via Open Register. According to Advertising Age Scotts Miracle-Gro is suing Terra Cycle, Inc., a small manufacturer of organic fertilizer. According to their web site Sued By Scotts “Scotts claims that the two companies' products look similar and will confuse customers because some TerraCycle plant foods have a green and yellow label with a circle and a picture of flowers and vegetables on it.” “Scotts also objects that TerraCycle says its plant food is as good or better than 'a leading synthetic plant food' and is refusing Scotts' demands that TerraCycle hand over its scientific tests conducted at the Rutgers University EcoComplex to Scotts' scientists and lawyers. Scotts refuses to turn its tests over to TerraCycle.”

Check out the photos at their website and see what you think. What’s interesting to me is the use of this website by TerraCycle to put out their point of view. This is a great way to counter a larger corporation’s massive legal network. Go straight to the people. We don’t see a blog by the president or anyone at Scotts to counter these claims. So for now TerraCycle can control the conversation. This is a perfect example of a small business using the internet to reach a larger audience and compete with the big companies.