Return to Glory
I hope they don't sue you for this..
Why? Is there anything in there that is wrong?
Staff Writer
A Nebraska fan who was sued over a bogus Internet article about two University of Oklahoma quarterbacks has reached a settlement with The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and Oklahoman sportswriter Jake Trotter.
The fan, James W. Conradt, publicly apologized and agreed to pay OPUBCO an undisclosed sum as part of a settlement that was filed Monday in Oklahoma City federal court.
Conradt also agreed to never again publish an article in a manner that makes it appear the article was published in The Oklahoman or NewsOK.com, both of which are owned by OPUBCO.
Conradt works as a computing services manager in the information technology department at the University of Texas.
OPUBCO and Trotter sued Conradt after he published an article on the Internet on July 9 that falsely stated Sooner quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Landry Jones had been arrested for intent to distribute cocaine.
Conradt used Oklahoman staff writer Jake Trotter's byline and OPUBCO trademarks to give the bogus Internet article the appearance of legitimacy, according to the lawsuit. He placed a link to the article on his Web site,
www.darthhusker.com, and on an online sports message board.
The civil lawsuit accused Conradt of libel, copyright violations and trademark infringements.
"I naively intended the article to be humorous satire and parody and did not intend readers to believe the article was true,” Conradt said in his apology. "If some readers believed the article was true, that was not my intent, and I sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding or harm that may have caused.”
"This experience has been a painful one; personally, professionally and financially,” Conradt wrote. "I wish I had never brought it on myself.”
As part of the settlement, Conradt agreed to:
•Never again use any of OPUBCO's federally registered trademarks, including The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com.
•Never copy material from an OPUBCO copyrighted Web site without OPUBCO's written permission.
•Never falsely represent an article he publishes as being written by an OPUBCO reporter.
•Never promote, republish or publicly comment on his bogus article.
•Never publicly comment on any article authored and published by OPUBCO in The Oklahoman, on the NewsOK.com Web site, or on any other OPUBCO-affiliated Web site.
Under the agreement, Conradt will be required to pay $25,000 per violation if he engages in any of those prohibited activities.
