So, it looks like OPUBCO has decided to go ahead and sue James Conradt, the Nebraska fan who lives in Austin and works for the University of Texas, for creating and posting the funny fake write-up about Sam Bradford and Landry Jones distributing cocaine. From, ironically enough, NewsOK.com:
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 10-count civil lawsuit accuses James W. Conradt of libel, copyright violations and trademark infringements.
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.
First all, isn't Jake Trotter the same guy who wrote about Jay Norvell and Bob Stoops playing football at Purdue? Something tells me that was a lot more damaging to his reputation and occupation than an obviously fake news story that uses his name. If anything, Jake should probably be thanking Mr. Conradt for making it appear that he does actual reporting.
Anyway, I'm not too sure what to think about all this. As an OU fan, I'm kind of happy. As the founder of a website called The Lost Ogle, I kind of think OPUBCO could do something better with its money than harass some blogger for treading into the blurry waters of libel, copyright violations and trademark infringements. You know, something like suing NewsOK.TV for actually producing videos like the one above. Seriously, if somebody watches that entire thing they may fall head first into their computer monitor and die. Then OPUBCO would probably be sued for gazillion dollars and possibly have to shut down NewsOK.TV.
Actually, that might not be a bad thing. Watch the video now!
