March Madness? More Like Legal Madness: NCAA Takes Aim At DraftKings In Trademark Infringement Lawsuit

The NCAA announced on Friday that the organization has filed a lawsuit against the DraftKings Sportsbook over trademark infringement tied to using trademark terms associated with the ongoing NCAA Tournament. 

In their filing, the NCAA has accused the sportsbook of financially benefiting from the usage of terms like "March Madness," "Sweet Sixteen," "Final Four" and others associated with the tournament. 

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Like the NFL trademarking the "Super Bowl," the NCAA has specific rights to terms they use for March Madness, leading to companies having to come up with different slogans to promote their coverage of the ongoing tournament. 

"The NCAA makes clear in the complaint and its motion that every day that DraftKings continues to use these marks, millions of sports fans — and, critically, college students and young adults who are particularly susceptible to gambling harm — are exposed to the false suggestion that the Association has authorized or endorsed DraftKings' gambling platform," the NCAA said in a statement on Friday. 

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The NCAA is also asking for an emergency restraining order against DraftKings, and has provided the court with a timeline in which they would like to see this heard in a court, which they say is "before the men's third round commences on Thursday, March 25 and the women's third round commences on Friday, March 27."

"This causes confusion among NCAA members and student-athletes that the Association is involved with and/or endorsing sports betting, which is in direct contradiction to its robust education, integrity monitoring, anti-harassment and advocacy efforts to end risky prop bets," the NCAA noted. 

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There is also one other component of the lawsuit filed against DraftKings that stands out, which is how the sportsbook markets their "prop bets," which the NCAA is actively trying to target in this current era of college athletics. 

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Could this be a way that the organization is trying to combat "prop bets," by going after DraftKings for their alleged copyright infringement? Possibly, but from the way the lawsuit reads, the NCAA is working to maintain that they in no way have any type of affiliation with sportsbooks. 

One way that DraftKings could fight this lawsuit, and they do have the money to do so, is by fighting the allegations that they are pushing users to their sites by acting as though they are in a paid partnership. 

The average user is not logging onto their favorite sportsbook because a site or app says "March Madness" betting, but since companies are not allowed to have any type of language that might make it look that way, the NCAA has decided to go after DraftKings. 

For example, OutKick is giving away an all-expenses paid trip to the Final Four, with airfare, lodging and tickets included, but we cannot use any type of reference to the NCAA Tournament's key phrases like "Final Four."

So, this is why our company uses the phrase "Learn More About The Ultimate College Hoops Experience."

We will see what the sportsbook decides to do in terms of potentially fighting the NCAA, as we head into a massive three weeks of college basketball.