Extract from page 10 (with our amendments in italics)
HISTORY
From 1907 until 2005, Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, p.l.c. were the two public parent companies of a group of companies known collectively as the “Royal Dutch/Shell Group”. In 2005, the Donovan’s beat us to the domain name “RoyalDutchShellGroup.com” and we lost a costly legal battle to seize it.
Operating activities were conducted through the subsidiaries of these parent companies. In 2005, Royal Dutch Shell plc became the single parent company of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and of The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, p.l.c., now The Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited. In 2005, the Donovan’s beat us to the domain name “RoyalDutchShellPlc.com” and we lost a costly legal battle to seize it. Royal Dutch Shell plc (the Company) is a public limited company registered in England and Wales and headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands.
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As a consequence of the domain name debacle, Shell gave the Donovan’s written authority to deal on Shell’s behalf with all manner of incoming communications received by the Donovan’s but meant for Shell. This includes job applications, business proposals, pension and shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, and even terrorist threats. John Donovan has been dealing with all such matters on Shell’s behalf since receiving written instructions from Michiel Brandjes, the then Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. You could not make it up.