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Newspaper Sues Football Fan

Oklahoma’s largest newspaper and one of its sportswriters have sued a

University of Texas employee who has admitted posting a bogus story about

two University of Oklahoma football players on the Internet. Jim Bell reports.

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The lawsuit filed by the Oklahoma City newspaper the Oklahoman accuses James Conradt of libel, copyright violations and trademark infringement. It seems Conradt wrote an article that said Oklahoma quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Landry Jones had been arrested for cocaine possession with intent to distribute.

Conradt then put the article on the Internet, framed in the newspaper’s template. He also used Oklahoman sportswriter Jake Trotter’s byline and various Oklahoman publishing trademarks to make the article appear to be legitimate.

The lawsuit says the article is not true, and it libels the two young football players. In addition, it says unauthorized use of the newspaper’s template and images violated the paper’s copyrights.

The paper asks unspecified damages from Conradt, who works as a service manager for UT Austin’s Information Technology Department.

Conradt hasn’t commented on the lawsuit, but he has posted an apology on his personal blog. 

Jim Bell, KUHF, Houston Public Radio News.