Publisher, sportswriter file suit in fake story about Oklahoma quarterbacks
Publisher, sportswriter file suit in fake story about Oklahoma quarterbacks
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64
By Randy Ellis
Published: July 15, 2008
The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and a sportswriter Monday sued a Nebraska football fan who admitted creating a fake Internet article about two University of Oklahoma quarterbacks.
The publishing company is a leading provider of news and information in Oklahoma through its newspaper, The Oklahoman, and Web site, NewsOK.Com. OPUBCO and sportswriter Jake Trotter sued James W. Conradt, the alleged perpetrator of the hoax, in federal court in Oklahoma City. The 10-count civil lawsuit accuses Conradt of libel, copyright violations and trademark infringements. Conradt published a "defamatory” article on the Internet July 9 that falsely stated University of Oklahoma quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Landry Jones had been arrested for intent to distribute cocaine, the lawsuit alleges. Conradt allegedly put a link to the article on his Web site, www.darthhusker.com, and on an online sports message board. The lawsuit claims Conradt used Oklahoman staff writer Jake Trotter's byline and various OPUBCO trademarks to give the bogus Internet article the appearance of legitimacy. Conradt placed Trotter in a false light and damaged his reputation and occupation by publishing the story, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages. The lawsuit also asks a federal judge to order Conradt not to misuse OPUBCO trademarks in the future, to require Conradt to prepare a written report stating how he will comply with that order, and to order Conradt to publish "corrective advertising” to compensate for the harm he allegedly caused. Conradt, 36, is a Nebraska fan who works as a computing services manager in the information technology department at the University of Texas. He could not be reached for comment Monday evening. Last week, Conradt admitted to Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel in a telephone interview that Conradt was responsible for the hoax. He said he wasn't thinking. "I want to express my deepest apologies to the families,” Conradt said last Wednesday. "I didn't want to hurt anyone.” The lawsuit claims Conradt was "well aware of the dangers that can be caused by posting harmful attacks anonymously on the Internet.” It points to a Jan. 10, 2005 article in the Lincoln Journal Star, a Nebraska newspaper, in which Conradt was quoted discussing how easily people can post untrue rumors on Internet message boards. "I think anonymity brings out the worst in people,” Conradt was quoted as saying. "There are no consequences for saying what you say. I think that's probably where the whole concept of flaming comes from. They probably didn't have that in the old days around the coffee pot at work, the profanity-laced, ultra-negative outbursts.”
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Using that logic, how about we attach your first and last name to a false story that could put your career in jeopardy, and legitimize the lie to the point that a few radio stations run with said story? Does it really freaking matter that Trotter wasn't a nationally renoun writer? All a newspaper writer has to legitimize themselves sometimes is their name, and Trotter's name was libelously attached to a fake story. The idea that it doesn't matter because he isn't Dan Patrick is ridiculous, and has no bearing on the case.
Never have I seen so many misinformed people post opinions.
Give the Jokelahoman and Trotter a quarter each. Give Sam and Landry each a meatball sub. Slap the Husker in the head with a book called “Bad Judgment and How to Avoid It.” And then EVERYBODY STFU!!!
Wait! Forgot to answer the question posed by moron number 11 about the OU b’ball player. The replies are probably gone because the OU haters started talking unprintable trash same as the day Jack Mildren died. Some hater made a remark about a “reach around” that day and zap!!! Postings disappeared!!!
As for personal damages, no one was hurt, so there's nothing to be gained. People who are public figures, like Oklahoma athletes, have to deal with people occasionally saying something stupid or untrue about them. False accusations are made about public figures everyday, regardless of whether they are in the sports world, entertainment, media or politics.
I witnessed numerous media outlets making untrue statements about Nebraska athletes during their championship seasons in the 90's, but the University of Nebraska and it's athletes weren't petty enough to sue someone over a false claim. As a Nebraska fan, I'm sorry and ashamed that this time it was one our own fans making a disparaging remark about students from another University, but I don't think it warrants legal action. I guess I expected more out of Oklahoma and the long-standing, respectful rivalry between our two Universities. (But I would expect something like this from Colorado...)
On a separate, but somewhat related issue, I'm glad that OU's AD wants to renew the tradition of the great rivalry between OU and NU. Hopefully it is a good game this year and next year between two friends (Stoops & Pelini). It's just a shame that OU-NU don't still play every year at Thanksgiving.
And then hope the world forgets soon how bad my judgement is . . .
What I don't understand is all this uproar over financial "damages." Who exactly got "damaged" financially? Did Jake Trotter get fired? Has his reputation really been "damaged?" Did Bradford and Jones get kicked off the team because of this story? Did anything related to this actually take money out of their pockets? Does anyone really think any less of them because of this hoax?
If I were the judge, I would make Conradt comply with the requests of the paper, and then award $1 in actual damages and $3 in punitive damages. And then I would turn my attention to more important matters - like how I can get a ticket for the NU-OU game this fall . . .