May 12, 2008

BNP in hot water over 'Millionaire' leaflet

Who Wants to Be Done for Copyright Theft?
Campaign literature by the BNP that used images from the TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? fell foul of copyright rules.

A leaflet to promote BNP hopeful Alan Girvan in Dewsbury East was withdrawn after Carl Morphett of the anti-fascist group Kirklees Unity highlighted the breach. The leaflet featured Labour councillors Paul Kane and Eric Firth above the caption: ‘Q. How many years have you promised to clean up Dewsbury?'

2waytraffic, the company that owns the copyright on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? images, wrote to Mr Girvan's agent, Coun David Exley, demanding that the leaflets were withdrawn.

Coun Exley said the leaflet was no longer being distributed by the time the complaint occurred.

He said: "The company telephoned me about it. There was no shouting and bawling. They said they weren't happy with the image being used to promote any political organisation - not just the BNP. I gave them notice that it had been withdrawn."

He said the agreement was formalised in writing - and that was the end of the matter. He said he was furious over comments from Carl Morphett "It makes my blood boil. Carl Morphett has nothing better to do than criticise other people's efforts," he added.

Mr Morphett said: "Mr Exley should know that as an agent for Mr Girvan he should have played by the rules."

Dewsbury Reporter

Thanks to our friends at Kirklees Unity for the heads-up

This is of course, far from the first time that the BNP has happily ignored copyright. A couple of years back, we reported the party's use of one of the children's characters, the Mr Men, dressed as a suicide bomber, on the party's so-called 'jokes' page. Chorion, the company that holds the copyright on the Mr Men, was much perturbed at any association with the far-right party and demanded the removal of the image. Similar breaches occurred with the Apple iPod ad images and the Books for Dummies series images. Anything goes at the BNP.

Just a few weeks ago, we reported the sale of Usborne children's books through the party's Excalibur merchandising site. Presumably the BNP hoped to achieve some spurious and undeserved respectability through their sale and a perceived link between Usborne and itself. Following complaints from ourselves and many of our supporters, Usborne forced the party to remove the books from the Excalibur website.

We need to keep a close watch on the BNP for anything of this nature. We already know that the party will ignore the law wherever it can and on the thinnest pretext, and we need to bring these constant breaches to the attention of a wider public. Keep your eyes skinned, folks.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

As usual, a complete disregard of the law by the party that claims to be the only one that really believes in law and order.

Anonymous said...

Lee Barnes missed this, did he?

Anonymous said...

"Lee Barnes missed this, did he?"

LOL Legal eagle my arse.

Anonymous said...

"He said he was furious over comments from Carl Morphett "It makes my blood boil. Carl Morphett has nothing better to do than criticise other people's efforts," he added."

Perhaps Exley should have been more careful in the first place. It would certainly have looked better for his shitty little party than ending up whining about Morphett reporting them.

Anonymous said...

Let’s not forget two other incidences (I think there may be more) of the BNP deliberately disregarding the copyrights and trademarks of other.

1) In 1999 and 2000, the Metropolitan Police won court injunctions against BNP mayoral candidate Mike Newland, BNP leader Nick Griffin and another senior BNP senior official for breach of copyright after the BNP copied a press advertisement from the Metropolitan Police’s ‘Race crime is hate crime’ campaign and altered the text for its own racist leaflets. The Metropolitan Police described the BNP leaflet produced by Mike Newland et al, which carried the police’s emblems, as "particularly offensive".

2) Then let’s not forget the BNP’s dirty tricks in the recent London elections.

The BNP distributed a leaflet across London, misleadingly titled ‘The Londoner' in order to fool people that it was from the Greater London Authority (GLA) which publishes a monthly newspaper called 'The Londoner' distributed to homes throughout London. The front cover of the BNP leaflet featured the headline ‘The changing face of London' with a photograph of Asian women and the words ‘Is this what you really want?' The GLA is the registered owner of ‘The Londoner' trademark since 2002 and the BNP disregarded the rights of the GLA. Here’s the article:

Mayor threatens legal action against BNP

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has told the British National Party it could face legal action if it continues to publish leaflets called The Londoner'.

The British National Party is distributing a leaflet across London, misleadingly titled 'The Londoner'.

The front cover features the headline 'The changing face of London' with a photograph of Asian women and the words 'Is this what you really want?'

The Mayor publishes a monthly newspaper called 'The Londoner' which is distributed to homes throughout London.

The Greater London Authority has been the registered owner of 'The Londoner' trademark since 2002 and the British National Party has blatantly disregarded the rights of the GLA.

A legal letter to the British National Party states: "The GLA believes that you are intentionally trading on the goodwill of the GLA in the trademark of 'The Londoner' by using a trademark which is confusingly similar to 'The Londoner' and that the use of the trademark, does, or is intended to, confuse or mislead members of the public."

The letter demands that the British National Party cease and desist from using the trademark and remove from circulation any publication using 'The Londoner'.

The Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "The Londoner has been published for eight years and is a well-known newspaper across the capital.

"It is a disgrace that the BNP has deliberately chosen to trade on our good name by calling its outrageous propaganda The Londoner.

"Londoners should be clear that there is absolutely no link between the newspaper they receive each month and this offensive BNP leaflet."

http://oxfordunity.blogspot.com/2008/02/mayor-threatens-legal-action-against.html

Anonymous said...

The million dollar question is: -

Will the state-supported BNP get away with this one, after a word with the production company by MI%, or have they finally bitten off more than they can chew?

Anonymous said...

I'd forgotten all about that Londoner stuff. Anyone know if it was taken further?

Anonymous said...

Yet another fuck-up from the incredibly astute BNP.

Anonymous said...

2waytrafEc? What kind of a name is that? Even if they're in the right (and they obviously are), the name is crap. It looks like some insane naming committe got too much power.

Antifascist said...

'2waytrafEc? What kind of a name is that?'

Whoops. Our mistake (now corrected).

Anonymous said...

"Whoops. Our mistake (now corrected)."

LOL No probs. I realised the mistake after I left the comment and went to thier site and saw this

"We are always on the look out for extraordinary talent."

Maybe a job there for Lee Barnes?

Anonymous said...

"Yet another fuck-up from the incredibly astute BNP."

I'd offer to set up and maintain a page with a list of all their disasters but I suspect it would be a full-time job.

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid you've missed a trick here folks. The BNP will be happy with the outcome as the contents of their leaflet are now splashed across the local newspapers for all to see. They don't need to put the leaflet out now.

Come on you good people, wise up. Being outwitted by the witless is not a thing to crow about.

Anonymous said...

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Nick Griffin of course - BNP members are mugs and have been filling Nick Griffin's pockets for years.

Anonymous said...

"I'm afraid you've missed a trick here folks. The BNP will be happy with the outcome as the contents of their leaflet are now splashed across the local newspapers for all to see."

What a load of crap. You really think they'll be happy to see themselves being shown up for breaking the law (albeit civil) again? Anyway, what are we (meaning anyone opposed to the BNP) supposed to do, ignore any evidence of wrongdoing because it's giving them publicity? Fine, let's not mention it when there next potential bomber ends up in court.

Anonymous said...

I see Alan Girvans on the list of people backing Colin Auty. I'm surprised Nick Griffin let him stand for the BNP.

Anonymous said...

And well done for the Usborne Books thing. I hadn't noticed they' d been removed froom the site.

Anonymous said...

"I'm afraid you've missed a trick here folks. The BNP will be happy with the outcome as the contents of their leaflet are now splashed across the local newspapers for all to see. They don't need to put the leaflet out now."

That's ridiculous. They've been made to look stupid and negligent. How is that a problem?

Anonymous said...

This from Lee Barnes' (the self-appointed and head of BNP legal department) blog:

Foo Fighters - Reading festival 1995 - almost killed in tent by crush of crowd.

Damn - better luck next time you fascist freak.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Lee Barnes of the BNP is trying to show off his music credentials by boasting that he recently attended a neo-nazi gig to listen to the hardcore neo-nazi band Sleipnir.

In another post Lee Barnes tells us that his other favourite neo-nazi bands are Eye Of Odin and Celtic Warrior. In the same post Lee Barnes tells us of his other favourite bands. Quite a few of his favourites are curious selections given their strong anti-fascist and anti-racist credentials and would be opposed to the fascist and racist thought of Lee Barnes and the BNP. He lists the following bands as his favourites, despite their anti-fascist and anti-racist reputations:

Rage Against The Machine: this is a left wing political band which is anti-fascist and anti-racist. Further, its lead singer Zack de la Rocha is Mexican and lead guitarist Tom Morello is part Black.

Manic Street Preachers: their song ‘If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next’ is a tribute to those who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War and includes the line “Then I can shoot fascists”

Pink Floyd: a very anti-racist band and they've quite a few songs about racism

Blur: have played anti-racist gigs

U2: vocal against racism

The Levellers: played at the recent Rock Against Racism Victoria Park Anniversary show, which in part was to raise awareness of the threat of the BNP in the May London elections.

Smashing Pumpkins: anti-racist band whose lead guitarist, James Iha, is Japanese.

Arab Strap: its lead vocalist Aidan Moffat recorded the anti-racist poem “All The Love You Need”

The choices of these bands by Lee Barnes are strange given that he would normally attack such bands as ‘Red Scum’ for their anti-racism and anti-fascism.

Kirklees Unity said...

midlander said...

I'm afraid you've missed a trick here folks. The BNP will be happy with the outcome as the contents of their leaflet are now splashed across the local newspapers for all to see. They don't need to put the leaflet out now.

Come on you good people, wise up. Being outwitted by the witless is not a thing to crow about.

What a load of old bollox.

You have the original newspaper story in the article above.It hardly mentions anything the BNP said in their leaflet (I should know,I have seen it)

I tell you what,lets just ignore the BNP and their fascist pals.
If we keep our fingers crossed they might just go away.

Silly,silly boy.

Anonymous said...

In the "cool, hip and trendy" RWB festival, fiddle and lute partygoers will most surely be killed by boredom.

lol

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know anything about Lee Barnes's secret biography?

What he did before joining the neo-nazi bnp?

Was he always a tosser?

Would be good for the truth about this loner/loser to be published as a seperate article, "L Unity", to inflame Lee Barnes into a manic frenzy, not that we wish to turn this unhinged freak into a homicidal maniac.

Anonymous said...

Looking on Wikipedia on the net, I just noticed that as well as being a neo-nazi party run by a one-eyed dictator, BNP is also a protein antibody which signifies when heart attacks are about to happen.

Quite fitting that a protein called BNP induces heart attacks, after the notorious fall-outs between fascists caused by the shameful antics of Mark Collett, Simon Darby and Nickolarse Griffin.

Anonymous said...

"Damn - better luck next time you fascist freak."

LOL. Same here

Anonymous said...

I see Alan Girvans on the list of people backing Colin Auty.


I bet Griffins shitting himself!

Anonymous said...

Eye Of Odin, indeed. So Barnes is indeed a worshipper of Norse Gods and not Christianity, as always expected.

Nick Griffin won't appreciate the fact his legal beagle likes antiracist bands like the Manic Street Preachers.

All I can gather is madman Barnes appreciates the name "manic" in the name of a band and probably hasn't heard the music.

As for "Arab Strap" it's obviously NOT the name Arab that motivates him to name the band, as most Arabs are Muslims and all have brown or black skins. It's probably because he likes using peculiar sex toys which the "arab strap" is one.

He mentioned "blur" cos after smoking his skunkweed, his mind is permanently in one.

As for "Smashing Pumpkins", maybe "punpkins" is probably one of his secret code words for Auty and co.

Speaking of Auty, I bet Barnes is glad he no-longer has to list racist warblers "Red Clare" as one of his favourite "bands", since Auty became Nick Griffin's Public Enemy Number One.

If you think Barnes has been anywhere near Glastonbury, "don't believe the hype!"

Anonymous said...

OK Pink Floyd, i know, i can even stretch to Manic Street Preachers having brought up 3 children but the rest i give up, but my experience is that most successful bands are anti racist, please note i said successful.
Not barnes choice of some Odin loving group with a wash board and string box.

tulip

Anonymous said...

@ ffs, sm and kirklees unity

Your reaction tells me all I need to know.

I was in the National Front for over a decade and can tell you that an exposé of this kind would have been viewed by my then comrades as mission accomplished. Don't take my word for it, read Ray Hill's account of the Leicester Mercury spoof he pulled whilst working within British Movement.

It is a judgement call, and I'm not suggesting that this kind of deceit should be brushed under the carpet and not permitted to see light of day. What dismayed me was the orgy of self-congratulation which followed with not a hint of recognition on anybody's part that the BNP might actually have turned this to their advantage.

IMHO one of the best things an anti-fascist can do is to learn how the fascist thinks. From my experience this is knowledge which most anti-fascists go to extraordinary lengths to steer clear of.

Anonymous said...

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2008/05/398680.jpg

Check out the photo on the link above. From UK Indymedia:

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, West Yorkshire Oi! band 'Scum' have always denied that they are anything other than "apolitical". It comes as no surprise at all to us however, to hear that lead singer Ross, of Huddersfield, was seen straight-arming it with the rest of the scum at a recent Leeds 'Blood & Honour' gig. Helpfully, the neo-nazi idiots have put his photo up on their website (Ross is on the right.) Any information on his dance partner would also be appreciated. Ross, you know what happens next.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/398679.html

Anonymous said...

How come not one major newspaper has ever focussed on the madness cult that is Odin worship and how senior members of the bnp pray daily to this non-existant "god" of white aryan supremacy?

Anonymous said...

The aim of the article is to show the business community that the neo-nazi bnp do not respect copyrights. Somewhere out there will be a director of a business who might be exploited by griffin, darby and barnes, and who, thanks to this article, will hopefully be inclined to take them to the cleaners and not let them off lightly.

If I was the managing director of such an organisation, I'd jump at the chance of suing the bnp for every hate-filled tenner used by them to stir up hatred, fear and racial attacks.

Bankrupting the party would see the end of Nick Griffin and his corrupt, perverted cronies

Anonymous said...

Barnes "LLB?" isn't even a proper lawyer. There's no way he could stop Nick Griffin's BNP from being sued if the matter ever reached court, which is why I hope and pray that the bnp would dare to rip off fake endorsements for McDonalds, Burger King or Pepsi, as these companies always sue for breach of copyright.

Anonymous said...

Fuck me! I was just reading something about Norse mythology and I realised that Odin only had one eye.

Co-incidence or is there more to it than that?

Is Nick Griffin a reincarnation of Odin, which explains why Darby and co worship the beast like some sort of godhead.

Anonymous said...

If you want to know more about the BNP's loony belief in a long since forgotten norse god, check out the following link; -

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php/natures-path-odins-path-403097.html

The nutcase is obviously a friend of Keifffff Axxxxxxon from his spelling, buy you get an understanding why Hitler manicially loved animals and hated his fellow human beings.

Odin worship is mixed-up and confused at best, and genocidally dangerous at worst. Obviously an ideal choice for Barnes, lol

Anonymous said...

Antifascist, is it Lee Barnes or Simon Darby who goes under the name of Odin on the Goon Arsehole (Green Arrow) blog?

Anonymous said...

Odin worship is the BNP's achiles heel, as few voters who are racist and hate immigrants would think much of a party where its mean protagonists openly believe a stupid norse god created man and the universe.

In an age where most people are not religious, the weird fact that lots of top BNP people including Nick Griffin himself worship Odin, makes the BNP seem like the new Monster Raving Loony Party.

Draw repeated attention to the BNP's connection to the Odinists on Stormfront and the neo-nazi party will be repeatedly and eternally fecked up the jacksy and will become known as a religious cult of dangerously obcessed Hitlerite weirdos not a so-called "nationalist" party.

Anonymous said...

If the BNP are truly "nationalist", why did they wany Denmark to beat the England football team at the last World Cup?

Is the nazis use of the word "nationalism" merely a cover for the true term "white supramacism"?

Anonymous said...

Absolutely, midlander. The anti-fascist movement are immediately on the back foot as they refuse to learn how teh fascist thinks.

Just take some of the other posts in this thread for example which refer to Lee Barnes' taste in music.

Do the people on here really believe that an apparent fascist could never like music played by bands who espouse anti-fascism? A good song is a good song. You can't pretend to dislike it just because the writer has a different political opinion to you.

Yet some anti-fascists actually believe that ALL nationalists or fascists only ever play Skrewdriver of some of the other pro-white bands currently around. This is utter nonsense. Fascists, like everyone, listen to all kinds of music, if they like it. Folk, metal, rap, rave, classical. You name it.

Stop stereotyping! Find out about these people if you wish to beat them. At the moment, you know nothing about them because you refuse to learn, arogantly assuming you know it all, or wrongly assuming they fit the typical racist stereotype. Not anymore.

Anonymous said...

In response to the post about Denmark and England. Firstly, Denmark didn't play England at the last World Cup (in Germany, 2006). They played them at the Japan/Sotuh Korea World Cup in 2002.

Secondly, the BNP didn't want Denmark to beat England. Perhaps one or two idiots did who try and mix politics with sport, when the great thing about sport, in theory, is that it provides a respite from politics and normal life in general.

In fact, if you watch the programme Young, Nazi and Proud, you'll see that the weedy little worm Collett is actually wearing an England shirt and supporting England as they played in that very game against Denmark. I'm not sticking up for the BNP here, I just don't want to see one or two of you trip yourselves up.

Antifascist said...

'Antifascist, is it Lee Barnes or Simon Darby who goes under the name of Odin on the Goon Arsehole (Green Arrow) blog?'

I've no idea. I don't bother with the Green Arselicker's blog.

'Stop stereotyping! Find out about these people if you wish to beat them. At the moment, you know nothing about them because you refuse to learn, arogantly assuming you know it all, or wrongly assuming they fit the typical racist stereotype.'

Good to see that you are not yourself prone to stereotyping (irony).

Actually, I agree with you to a certain extent. It's time to move away from the old mainstay of simply throwing the word 'nazi' at the BNP, even though it still applies, and time to look at a more constructive argument to use against the far-right. As the 'nazi' epithet still applies, we'll still use it, but there is a good deal more to be said and we'll use that too. Believe me, as the BNP evolves, we'll evolve too. Having said all that, where the 'racist' tag can be legitimately used, we'll use that, too.

The evolution of fascism, to properly move into new technology, to change with the far-right and to adapt to rapidly-changing societal conditions, is a big issue and not one just to be chatted about in the comments section of the blog as though it's of no great importance. Rest assured that there will be proper debate.

Anonymous said...

Well said Ketlan.

Anonymous said...

"If the BNP are truly "nationalist", why did they wany Denmark to beat the England football team at the last World Cup?

Don't forget a true Welshman only supports two teams, Wales, and whoever are playing England !

Though God help us if cyclops Griffin considers himself a true Welshman.

Old Sailor

Anonymous said...

Old sailor,

please, please, please, please, please don't let Griffin be a Welshman.

I couldn't bear it!

I would have to scrape out my very DNA to disassociate myself !!!