Anybody need an Escort? Call TCU.
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 11:39 pmEscort, TCU battling over Internet photo
Go, fight, win – in court
08:52 PM CST on Tuesday, March 30, 2004
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
Like lawmen of the Old West, TCU officials last week gave an escort they say is posing as a school cheerleader 24 hours to get out of town, or in this case, remove her photo from the Internet.
The photo of "Sunny," dressed in cheerleader garb and lounging seductively on a TCU sign, remains on the escort service's Web site.
The university is now siccing its attorneys on the 21-year-old.
"We are disappointed that the university's image has been used in this manner," spokeswoman Tracy Syler-Doctson said in a written statement. TCU attorneys have contacted the escort Web site and asked officials to remove the photo.
Sunny, who wouldn't give her full name, said she only posed for a photo on campus and doesn't understand TCU's complaint.
"If they would just ask me nicely, I would take it down," she said, adding that she has received more than a dozen of what she called harassing calls demanding the photo's removal.
Sunny said she's a college sophomore but would not say whether she attends TCU.
In the photo, only the top of the sign is visible, showing parts of "Christian" and "University." There is no logo on her uniform, trimmed in TCU's dominant color – purple.
Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education, said it's difficult to tell whether TCU has a case. Adult Web sites often advertise "clean-cut college girls gone wild" without repercussions, he said.
The University of North Carolina in 2002 successfully sued an adult Web site that had used lettering and colors similar to the college's and included shots of locations on campus for trademark infringement.
Sunny says she hasn't decided what to do about the photo.
"You should be able to take a picture in public anywhere you want and wearing anything you want," she said.
Go, fight, win – in court
08:52 PM CST on Tuesday, March 30, 2004
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
Like lawmen of the Old West, TCU officials last week gave an escort they say is posing as a school cheerleader 24 hours to get out of town, or in this case, remove her photo from the Internet.
The photo of "Sunny," dressed in cheerleader garb and lounging seductively on a TCU sign, remains on the escort service's Web site.
The university is now siccing its attorneys on the 21-year-old.
"We are disappointed that the university's image has been used in this manner," spokeswoman Tracy Syler-Doctson said in a written statement. TCU attorneys have contacted the escort Web site and asked officials to remove the photo.
Sunny, who wouldn't give her full name, said she only posed for a photo on campus and doesn't understand TCU's complaint.
"If they would just ask me nicely, I would take it down," she said, adding that she has received more than a dozen of what she called harassing calls demanding the photo's removal.
Sunny said she's a college sophomore but would not say whether she attends TCU.
In the photo, only the top of the sign is visible, showing parts of "Christian" and "University." There is no logo on her uniform, trimmed in TCU's dominant color – purple.
Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education, said it's difficult to tell whether TCU has a case. Adult Web sites often advertise "clean-cut college girls gone wild" without repercussions, he said.
The University of North Carolina in 2002 successfully sued an adult Web site that had used lettering and colors similar to the college's and included shots of locations on campus for trademark infringement.
Sunny says she hasn't decided what to do about the photo.
"You should be able to take a picture in public anywhere you want and wearing anything you want," she said.
