The NCAA is suing DraftKings for trademark infringement over the use of the terms March Madness and Final Four.
A lawsuit filed on Friday in federal court in the Southern District of Indiana seeks an emergency restraining order to stop the sportsbook operator from its “egregious” use of those trademarked terms and others related to the NCAA Tournament and the Women’s NCAA Tournament.
As of Saturday morning, the DraftKings app still had references to March Madness, Final Four and Elite Eight.
“Because DraftKings is actively infringing the NCAA’s marks in the middle of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I Basketball Tournaments (‘Tournaments’) and the NCAA has consistently refused to be affiliated with the gambling industry, this issue is an urgent one and critical to the NCAA’s organizational mission,” the lawsuit reads, according to an ESPN report.
In a press release announcing the suit, the NCAA said DraftKings’ use of the trademarks is “flatly contrary to one of the Association’s most deeply held institutional values: that sports betting must not be associated with, endorsed by, or linked to NCAA championships or the student-athletes who compete in them.”
DraftKings insists that its use of terms like March Madness are “protected speech under the First Amendment.”
“DraftKings does not use the term March Madness as a trademark, but rather uses it in plain text and as a fair use in the same manner that other tournaments are displayed, such as the NIT, in order to accurately identify the different tournaments and their respective games,” a DraftKings spokesperson said in a statement, per ESPN. “This is protected speech under the First Amendment and is not a violation of any brand’s trademark. We are confident that the courts will deny this request for an injunction.”
The NCAA requested a briefing schedule for Monday.
