FYI.
Doug
Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
212-874-4020 (voice)
212-874-3137 (fax)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 04 Oct 94 06:22 PDT
From: The Development GAP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Recipients of conference mlist.wbbig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: World Bank Legal Action
From: The Development GAP <dgap>
For Immediate Release
4 October 1994
Contacts: (Madrid) 599-3573/3574/3580/3647
Doug Hellinger/Marijke Torfs
(United States) 1-510-848 1155
Juliette Majot/Owen Lammers
WORLD BANK THREATENS
CAMPAIGN WITH LEGAL ACTION
The World Bank is threatening to bring the U.S. 50 Years Is Enough
Campaign to court, pursuing a claim of copyright infringement
regarding the Campaign's logo.
"Some may view this as a David and Goliath battle, but we see it a
bit differently," said Owen Lammers, Executive Director of
International Rivers Network, one of the founding organizations and
the legal fiscal agent of the Campaign. "We view it as yet another
case in which the management of the World Bank focuses on cosmetic
matters while serious calls for reform remain unanswered. We are
disappointed that, rather than responding to the critical issues
the Campaign has raised in the past months, the World Bank chooses
to spend its energies fighting us over our logo."
In a letter received by the International Rivers Network, the World
Bank's attorneys charged that the words "World Bank/IMF" which
appear at the top of the Campaign's logo constitute copyright
infringement. They claim that the use of the Bank's name is
confusing and could lead people to think that the U.S. 50 Years Is
Enough Campaign is actually sponsored by the World Bank itself.
"It's hard to imagine a reader of our materials walking away with
the idea that the World Bank is sponsoring our Campaign," noted
Lammers. "Our editorial use of the words 'World Bank/IMF' in the
logo identifies that the Bank and IMF are the subject of the
declaratory statement that '50 Years Is Enough'."
The U.S. 50 Years Is Enough Campaign, launched this past May, is a
coalition of over 100 citizens' groups, representing more than 5
million Americans, joined in the common cause of fundamentally
changing the structure and operations of the World Bank and IMF. It
is joined by some 120 affiliated organizations around the world.
"If the Bank insists on pursuing its case, we are prepared to meet
them in court. We would rather the Bank get beyond this matter,
however, and engage in a dialogue with us over its socially and
environmentally destructive policies and the need for comprehensive
and democratic reform," said Lammers.
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