The real website of Koch Industries, Kochind.com
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Koch Industries (www.kochind.com) filed a lawsuit in a Utah court Monday seeking the names of individuals responsible for launching a fake website and news release that claimed the company had updated its policies to take on a new eco-friendly approach, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Koch, which Greenpeace alleged is financing ways to discredit climate change science, wants the names of the people behind the hoax.
The suit was filed in Utah because the domain name and fake website were registered with Utah-based companies Bluehost (www.bluehost.com) and Fast Domain (www.fastdomain.com), respectively.
US District Judge Dale Kimball granted a motion by Koch to speed up of the process of uncovering the customer names of Bluehost and Fast Domain.
Koch Industries is one of the largest privately held companies in the US and is involved in oil refining, manufacturing of fertilizers and chemicals, and markets and trades minerals. Greenpeace called it “a financial kingpin of climate science denial and clean energy opposition.”
The lawsuit says the individuals set up a fake website, koch-inc.com, that bares a similar appearance to the official Koch website, and which linked to the real one.
They then sent out a fake news release on December 10 which included links to the bogus website. Koch promptly responsed to the move and the site was taken down.
The news release said this: “Based on recent internal evaluations of Koch Industries priorities, the company 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,” said the fake news release.
The lawsuit alleges the individuals violated federal laws on trademarks, cybersquatting, unfair competition and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
The company said the news release, which was published by many news organizations, hurt both its business and reputation.
“Koch Industries Inc. is a firm believer in our nation’s First Amendment and the right to free speech,” said Koch spokesperson Melissa Cohlmia in an email statement. “This lawsuit was filed in response to a willful act of identity theft, theft of intellectual property and impersonation that extends beyond the boundaries of free speech. 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.”
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