Billionaire brothers sue young climate spoofers
Image - charles and david koch (note)
Charles and David Koch
When a press release arrived at newsrooms across America announcing that Koch Industries was adopting new environmental standards journalists immediately suspected a hoax.
The idea of having policy on the climate is in fact so egregious to brothers David and Charles Koch that they are now suing the activists who spoofed the press announcement.
The multi-billion energy company give $6.4 million in 2009 to climate sceptics and the funding has been used to provide smoke and mirrors in the global warming debate.
The press release announced that:
“â?¦the company [Koch Industries] will be restructuring its support of climate change research and advocacy initiatives and will discontinue contributions to groups whose positions on climate change no longer match those of the company’s leadership, beginning in January 2011.”
The email was a well-executed spoof, but the billionaire Koch brothers have failed to see the funny side and have now launched a civil lawsuit against the perpetrators.
The legal action claims trademark infringement, cyber-squatting and unfair competition. It states: “It was a publicity and fundraising stunt perpetrated with the intent to deceive and confuse the public, and disrupt and harm Koch Industries’ business and reputation.”
The defendants call themselves “Youth for Climate Truth,” describing themselves as “a bunch of young people” They said in an email interview published in the Guardian: “We are young Americans who think the billionaire Koch brothers should stop using their company’s wealth to fund misinformation to enrich themselves, at the expense of other Americans, who deserve to know how serious climate change really is.”
They are being defended by public interest lawyers Public Citizen which told the Guardian that Koch Industries “ran to court and sought to strip our clients’ anonymity without even giving our clients’ notice or an opportunity to defend themselves.” Probably an interesting one to watch.
Read the Koch Brothers profile.