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The energy bill's theft.

Article Excerpt
NO one has ever accused Hugo Chavez of being a running dog of capitalism. But when the government of Venezuela nationalized the assets of oil companies doing business there, the Chavez regime compensated refiners for taking their property. The U.S. government, in contrast, is not paying one red cent for taking intellectual property, real estate, and contract rights of petroleum marketers pursuant to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The law rewrites service station franchise agreements so that branded franchisees are permitted to label renewable fuels as being the branded product of their franchisor, even if the fuel comes from another source. Moreover, the law allows franchisees to use their franchisor's trademark to sell renewable fuels from other suppliers even if the franchise contract prohibits the franchisee from doing so and even if the franchisor owns the gas station tanks, pumps, and other property from which the fuel is sold. Those violations of petroleum marketers' intellectual property, real estate, and contract rights create a troubling precedent for franchisors, trademark owners, and landlords in other industries.

'IN FRASTRUCTURE' When EISA became...

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