Tuesday, December 07, 1999

A federal judge has permanently shut down a Web site that last month was found selling sexually explicit material carrying Ohio State University logos.

U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus yesterday ordered Ground Hog Productions to close its Web site. Sargus had temporarily closed the site, Buckeyegirls.com, Nov. 23 pending yesterday's decision.

OSU officials learned in mid-November that OSU's trademark scarlet-and-gray block "O'' and other images were used to embellish a site consisting of chat rooms, videos and pictures depicting nudity and sex acts, said Joseph R. Dreitler, an attorney who represents the university.

The Web site included free and fee-based access and had been operating for at least two months, Dreitler said.

The Web site included examples of copyright infringement, Sargus wrote. The court ruled the Buckeye logo was placed "in a negative context, thus reducing its value.''

OSU officials had wanted compensation for court costs plus triple the profits of the owners -- David J. Merchant of Mansfield, Ohio, and Jon R. Fitzgerald of Ashland, Ohio, neither of whom are OSU graduates.

However, yesterday's decision did not seek damages from the defendants. "There apparently were little, if any, profits,'' Dreitler said.