“Kind of neat”

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery?

Palestinian-born Tennessee businessman, Haitham Alyousef  owns two gas stations in largely Mexican immigrant neighborhoods. SO… discovering that foreign brand names not used in the United States are usually not covered under U.S. law … there are now two “Pemex” stations in Memphis that make you pump your own gas.

Some say !Qué barbáro!… while others agree with Alyousef that Pemex stations look “kinda neat”.

(Sombrero tip to Laura Martinez)

AND AN UPDATE:   Rolly Brook mentioned this post on one of the expat sites (thanks Rolly!), which seems to have led a few people into channeling their inner patent attorney.  They might want to read the link, which is to a Memphis Commercial-Advertiser article  which includes a sidebar discussing those legal issues.   One person speculated the “photo” at the top wasn’t a stock photo. I believe it’s actually an architectural drawing of a generic PEMEX station –whatever.

Thanks to Travis Ashby for turning up a youtube clip of the “real” fake PEMEX station — posted in June 2008, according to its poster (“corazondeleon”) … meaning this little squib of a post isn’t exactly “breaking news” but simply one more report on the “general weirdness that usually comes blowing in from the north.”