The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is heading into the Final Four, and DraftKings will continue to be free to acknowledge that while promoting sportsbook offerings on the competition.
On March 20, on the eve of the start of its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, the NCAA filed suit against DraftKings, seeking to bar the online sports betting site from using trademarked phrases such as March Madness, Final Four, Sweet Sixteen, and Elite Eight in its promotional and marketing spots that were seeking to get people to bet on these tournaments. The NCAA accused DraftKings of misusing the trademarks and, in doing so, associating the NCAA with sports betting.
Arguing that such connections made it appear as though the NCAA was giving tacit approval to sports betting, the college sports organization sought a temporary restraining order to prevent DraftKings from using the trademarked phrases.
Several other betting sites, including FanDuel and BetMGM, heeded the NCAA warnings and stopped using the trademarked phrases. However, DraftKings continued to go with the phrases in its promotional material.
In U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Indiana, while acknowledging that the NCAA had made a compelling argument for a trademark infringement case, Judge Tanya Pratt
denied the NCAA's request
for a temporary restraining order. In her response, Pratt noted that the NCAA hadn’t proven that by using these phrases, DraftKings was causing the NCAA the irreparable harm that would be necessary for the implementation of the temporary restraining order.
“The NCAA has made the requisite showing that three of the four elements necessary for a TRO exist, but given the exacting standard required for a temporary restraining order, they have not shown irreparable harm,” Pratt wrote in her ruling.
Lawyers for DraftKings successfully argued that terms such as March Madness and Final Four have become "embedded in our cultural lexicon, used in the same way by broadcasters, journalists, fans, and businesses to refer to a sporting phenomenon and a shared national moment."
DraftKings is celebrating a win over the NCAA
Following the ruling by Judge Pratt, DraftKings issued a statement celebrating its win in court over the NCAA, noting that the decision was "a victory for DraftKings, sports fans, and common sense."
Lawyers for DraftKings pointed out that the online betting site has been using the phrases in question since 2021, and the NCAA never had an issue with it previously.
"In the middle of March Madness, the NCAA rushed to court last Friday night, professing itself shocked—shocked to find that gambling is going on in here,” DraftKings said in its March 25 filing. "Like Captain Renault in Casablanca, the NCAA feigns surprise at conduct it has long known about and tacitly accepted."
The American Gaming Association estimates that approximately $3.3 billion will be wagered on this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at legal and regulated sports betting sites in the USA.
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