An Oklahoma publishing company and one of its beat reporters have filed a lawsuit against a UT employee who allegedly published a fake news article using several of the company's copyrighted trademarks.
The Oklahoma Publishing Company and Jacob "Jake" Trotter, a reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper, are suing James Conradt, a service manager for UT Information Technology Services, for copyright infringement after Conradt allegedly produced a false news story using The Oklahoman online news template with Trotter's byline, said Oklahoman editor Ed Kelley.
"It would be very difficult to tell if this was our material or something he made up," Kelley said.
In the article, Conradt accused two University of Oklahoma football players, including starting quarterback Sam Bradford, of cocaine distribution, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also states that he then posted a link to the forged article on his Web site and on a Rivals.com football message board.
Conradt has taken down his Web site and replaced it with a message concerning the lawsuit, saying the article was intended to be a joke.
"I am sorry for any trouble this has caused," Conradt said in the statement. "Please consider this to be an official retraction and correction."
University spokeswoman Robin Gerrow said Conradt will not be disciplined for his actions because the information technology department found that Conradt did not use University resources to post the article.
"It was related to his individual activities, not the University," Gerrow said. "It's not something that involves the University."
The lawsuit includes a January 2005 Lincoln Journal Star article - for which Conradt was interviewed - about rumors on Internet message boards. The article is used to convey Conradt's knowledge of the "dangers that can be caused by posting harmful attacks anonymously on the Internet," according to the lawsuit.
"New people come along all the time and are naive and believe too much of what they read," Conradt said in the article.
Kelley said he is most concerned about how the article will affect the reputation of the newspaper, which is the largest newspaper in Oklahoma.
"Credibility and authenticity is everything to a newspaper," Kelley said. "We want assurances that Mr. Conradt will never do this to us again."
Be the first to comment on this article!