Monday, March 01, 2010
Entrepreneurs in Massachusetts want to build a plant that can convert coal into fertilizer and have deliberately chosen the name of a Dr. Seuss character known for its eco-friendly association to brand the industrial operation. But the attorney for the estate of Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) says the naming of the company LoraxAG, from the story “The Lorax,” is in bad taste, and he intends to file a cease-and-desist letter to the company executives.
“There’s no reason for them to use the term,” Karl ZoBell, lawyer for Dr. Seuss Enterprises, told The New York Times, “except to purloin the good will attached to the book and use it for a company that appears to be the opposite of everything the book is about.”
“The Lorax” was crafted by Geisel as an allegory to teach children about protecting the environment from overdevelopment and industrialization.
Mike Farina, president of LoraxAG, says his company has only the best of intentions for using the name to show how modern technology can turn coal into a clean and productive resource.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Of Dr. Seuss and Coal Gasification (by Colin Miner, New York Times)
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