Judge rejects NCAA request to stop DraftKings using “March Madness” references
The NCAA had requested an emergency temporary restraining order to stop the betting operator from using its trademarks.
US.- A federal judge has rejected the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) request to stop DraftKings from using registered trademarks associated with its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The NCAA had filed a complaint in federal court in Indianapolis seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to stop the company from using the terms March Madness, Final Four, Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled that the NCAA did not show how the platform’s use of the terms would cause irreparable harm. However, she stated: “With further discovery the NCAA may be able to show it is entitled to a preliminary or permanent injunction, and those claims remain pending.”
DraftKings had argued that the terms were “the universally recognised names for the tournaments and their rounds, used by millions of college basketball fans, journalists, and participants in the sports-betting ecosystem. They are the same words used by other online sportsbooks, who have not been singled out by the NCAA’s fevered complaint.”
