Feature story - 5 February, 2004
Esso lost its court case against Greenpeace in France yesterday in a victory for freedom of expression on the web and for our campaign against the world's #1 environmental criminal.
As part of our "Don't buy Esso, Don't buy Exxon/Mobil" campaign,
we developed a parody of Esso's logo with a double dollar sign:
E$$O. (Esso is the name under which Exxon/Mobil trades in many
parts of the world outside North America)
Esso took us to court for copyright infringement, claiming our
Stop Esso website would "confuse customers" into thinking they were
at a real Esso site. Hmmm. Esso customers must be a particularly
dim lot. Would you be confused by this?
In case that wasn't enough, Esso also made the feeble attempt to
claim that the logo made them look like Nazis, given a similarity
only they could see between two dollar signs together and the
stylized Nazi SS symbol.
But
the real belly laugh came when Esso claimed that our abuse of their
logo would damage their "good reputation." This is the company that
has done more than any other corporation to undermine the science
and policy debate on global warming. This is the company that
donated massively to George Bush's election campaign, and was
rewarded with the US withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol. This is
the company that despoiled the pristine Alaskan coastline with an
oil spill the effects of which are still with us today. This is the
company responsible for 5
percent of all greenhouse gasses on the planet. This is the
company which has been branded environmental criminal #1 and been
targeted by activists all over the world in a massive "Don't Buy
Esso" campaign. If Esso was really worried about its reputation, it
might try doing something for our planet and our children's future
instead of using its gargantuan legal resources to try and stamp
out the wildfire of dissent.
The court ruled our parody of the Esso logo was within
acceptable limits of freedom of expression, rejecting Esso's claims
of tradmark infringement. Greenpeace has been campaigning against
the oil giant since 2001 when US President George Bush pulled the
US out of the international negotiations to tackle climate
change.
"Esso has spent millions in its fight to stop the world's
government's tackling climate change, and was behind Bush pulling
out of the Kyoto Protocol. Esso obviously thought this case would
be an easy win but it was wrong. Today's ruling is a victory in the
fight to protect the climate against a company that will go to any
means to silence its critics," said Greenpeace campaigner, Anita
Goldsmith.
Celebrate with us. Next time you pass an Esso or Exxon station,
put your thumb to your nose, wiggle your fingers, and say:
Naaa-naaa-naaa-naaa-naaaaa, Don't buy E$$O!
Take action!
Don't buy Esso.
Don't buy
Exxon/Mobil.
More information
Greenpeace obtains smoking-gun memo: Exxon - White House
link.
Victory animation
Spank Exxon/Mobil! game.