[aha] MARCH 19 IN DC; YES MEN APOLOGIZE TO BRITISH PETROLEUM

[helghi at analfabestia.com]

Dear Friend,

Here below is an email exchange proving that even where our worst
enemies are concerned, we Yes Men do know how to be courteous,
diplomatic, and even generous.

Diplomacy will NOT be our plan on March 19. If you're in the US,
please consider coming to Washington DC on March 19 to participate in
a day of massive civil disobedience on the 5th anniversary (!!) of
the Iraq War: http://5yearstoomany.org/article.php?id=60 

(Civil disobedience trainings are being held in the days before March
19: http://5yearstoomany.org/article.php?id=56.)

If you can help to videotape actions during the day, please send an 
email to mailto:dc at 5yearstoomany.org,arrestbush at gmail.com and/or 
register at http://5yearstoomany.org/modinput4.php?modin=50
We'll be setting up a web page to which folks can upload and
download footage for remixing into docs, music videos, etc.; more 
on that shortly.

Love,
The Yes Men

p.s. If you've been wondering about our long silence, it's that we're
right in the thick of making our new movie, which we hope to have
finished by summer.


p.p.s. If you have received two copies of this email, we apologize. The
first had a typo in our return address.

-------- 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

-------- 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.
[...]

Yours faithfully,

*Robert White*
BP p.l.c.
Group Trade Marks
20 Canada Square
London
E14 5NJ
United Kingdom

Direct Line: +44 (0) 207 948 5726
Fax: +44 (0) 207 948 7723
Email: robert.white2 at bp.com <mailto:robert.white2 at bp.com>

/BP p.l.c., a company registered in England and Wales with the
company number 102498 and whose registered office is 1 St James's
Square, London SW1Y 4PD/

/The information contained in this electronic transmission may be
confidential and/or privileged. Access to this electronic transmission
by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is unauthorised. If you
have received it in error please notify the sender immediately. Please
then delete the e-mail and do not disclose its contents to any person./

/Within the bounds of law electronic transmissions through internal and
external networks may be monitored to ensure compliance with internal
policies and legitimate business purposes./