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December 16, 2002 Volume 80, Number 50 CENEAR 80 50
p. 9 ISSN 0009-2347
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E-BUSINESS
DOW FIGHTS BACK Company takes legal action against parody website, gains
control
ALEX
TULLO
Internet mischief directed at Dow Chemical two weeks ago backfired.
On Dec. 3, the 18th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, an
environmental group issued a phony press release in which Dow
Chemical, the acquirer of Union Carbide, callously distances itself
from the incident because taking responsibility would hurt
shareholder value. What’s more, the release directed readers to a
website, dow-chemical.com.
The site was a parody of the
Dow website, with logos and text bitten off the real thing. “Dow is
responsible for the modern environmental movement,” said the page,
because DDT inspired Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.” There were
links to documents mocking sustainable development and Responsible
Care as well as a phony speech by Dow CEO Michael D.
Parker.
The website was the work of The Yes Men—the group
responsible for a number of parody websites, including gatt.org,
which spoofs the World Trade Organization. Dow-chemical.com also
reproduced entire pages of the Dow site, but words like “chemicals”
and “epoxy” were replaced with “toxics” and “bhopoxy.”
Dow’s
lawyers weren’t amused and promptly sent a letter to Verio, the
company that hosted the website, warning that it violated the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Anticybersquatting Consumer
Protection Act, and the Lanham Act. Verio took down the
site.
A representative from RTMark, which owns the Web
server, said The Yes Men would find server space outside the U.S.
“Dow will have to keep bopping it wherever it pops up,” he
said.
But the site’s domain was registered under “James
Parker,” the name of the Dow CEO’s son, and listed his actual home
address in Midland, Mich. Site representatives say it was their idea
of a joke.
Not a good idea. Seizing on the site’s
registration information, Dow lawyers claimed it in the name of the
real James Parker and transferred ownership to Dow.
Copies of
the site have since sprouted up under new names like Dowethics.com
and dow-chemical.va.com.au. “We respect the rights of groups to
express their opinions,” Dow spokeswoman Leslie Hatfield says, “but
we are disappointed that they would use such
tactics.” |
Chemical &
Engineering News Copyright © 2002 American Chemical
Society |
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