[spectre] YES MEN APOLOGIZE TO BRITISH PETROLEUM

[jaromil]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1





     http://www.beyond-petrol.com/




- ----- Forwarded message from The Yes Men <people at theyesmen.org> -----

- -------- Original Message --------
Subject: Use of a website... infringing copyright on the trademarks of
BP p.l.c.
Date:     Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:15:09 -0000
From:     White, Robert S C <robert.white2 at uk.bp.com>

Dear Sirs,

My name is Robert White and I work in  Group Trade Marks - part of the
Legal Department of BP p.l.c.

Our responsibilities extend to protecting the BP brand and trade marks
which   includes  monitoring  the   internet  for   infringements  and
fraudulent activities.

Our attention  has been  drawn to the  existence of the  following web
pages.  http://www.theyesmen.org/agribusiness/beyondpetrol/

You will  note that  these pages bear  a remarkable similarity  to the
genuine www.bp.com <http://www.bp.com> website.

You  will  observe that  the  webpages  in  question include  multiple
reproductions of  the BP logo. BP  p.l.c. has not  authorised this and
submit that this infringes the copyright in BP's trademarks.

In addition, we are concerned that there is a real risk of that
genuine visitors could be confused and being diverted away from the
genuine www.bp.com <http://www.bp.com> site. For example, please refer
to link to the "Contact Us" page
http://www.theyesmen.org/agribusiness/beyondpetrol/contactusdisplay.html

You will see that there are a number email addresses listed all ending
in  "@beyondpetrol.com".  BP  neither  owns  the  www.beyondpetrol.com
<http://www.beyondpetrol.com>  domain  and  nor  the  email  addresses
attached to the domain.

Whilst we do not object to the www.theyesmen.org
<http://www.theyesmen.org> per se, our concerns relate to the web
pages appearing at the
http://www.theyesmen.org/agribusiness/beyondpetrol/ level (and below)
in the hierarchy of the site. [...]


- -------- Original Message --------

Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:09:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andy Bichlbaum <admin at theyesmen.org>
To: "White, Robert S C" <robert.white2 at uk.bp.com>
Subject: Use of a website... infringing copyright on the trademarks of
BP p.l.c.

Dear Mr. White, BP p.l.c.,

Thank  you very much  indeed for  taking the  time to  write to  us in
regard to your company's website, BP.com.

First of all, please allow me  to say that we do completely understand
and sympathize with the hurt that  your company has every right in the
world to feel, and we deeply apologize for occasioning this emotion.

And although we  do know that there  can be no excuse at  all for this
slight, I  would beg your  indulgence for just  one minute, so  that I
might try to explain our side of the story, such as it is.

Back in 2006, we began preparing some satires on a number of companies
that we  considered to be the  world's prime malefactors,  in order to
help expose their monstrous crimes  in a humorous way. These companies
included ExxonMobil, Halliburton/KBR, and  a number of other entities,
including your own.

Sadly, while we did get around to fully realizing some of the spoofs -
including the  ones on  Exxon and Halliburton  - we  actually *forgot*
about yours shortly after we began work on it, and it thus remained in
the execrable half-finished state in  which, to your horror, you found
it last week. It didn't even have its own URL!

I would like  to sincerely apologize to your company  on behalf of the
Yes Men. Like  morons, we were misled by  appearances. Like morons, we
thought  - or  rather,  felt -  that  the malefaction  of those  other
companies was more...  maleficent than your own.

Yes, we can be real morons sometimes. There is no doubt of that.

But I  am here to tell  you today that  we are making efforts.  We now
understand that objectively, BP does  every bit as much damage to this
planet  as  does  Exxon,  Halliburton,  or any  other  more  obviously
nefarious company, regardless  of its carefully engineered professions
of decency and concern.  And we are ready today to prove our maturity,
sincerity, and newfound intelligence  by offering you a fully realized
spoof of your own: http://beyond-petrol.com/. We have likewise deleted
the offending pages you refer to below.

I know that  our admissions today may be rubbing  salt in your wounds,
but  I do hope  that this  website can  in some  way make  amends. Any
relationship, after all, must start from a place of truth and honesty,
not deceit  and subterfuge. This is  the honest truth, and  so this is
where we begin.

Again, please accept our deepest apologies, and our hopes for a better
future.

Yours most faithfully indeed,
The Yes Men


- ----- End forwarded message -----
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFH1mxIe2QxhLU0C14RAiwgAJ9p02qq/BJm6XuR6hNjvffEdloXjgCgzMaG
NsMtWohPe6S/W34Te8gEj7M=
=kdGE
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----