DraftKings has been using 鈥淢arch Madness鈥� and other familiar terms to refer to the NCAA Tournament for more than five years and has the legal right to do so, the sportsbook said in a court filing Wednesday in response to a complaint filed by the NCAA last week.
The NCAA is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to stop DraftKings from using registered trademarks associated with its men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 basketball tournaments.
The filed in the Southern District of Indiana, requests that DraftKings stop using 鈥淢arch Madness,鈥� 鈥淔inal Four,鈥� 鈥淓lite Eight鈥� and 鈥淪weet Sixteen鈥� and variations of those terms to promote its business.
In its response, DraftKings described those terms as 鈥渢he universally recognized 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鈥檚 fevered complaint.鈥�
DraftKings said the NCAA had asked for the restraining order 鈥渂ased on a contrived and manufactured 鈥榚mergency,鈥欌�� and it noted that the NCAA has a commercial agreement with a company whose business is providing in-game data to sportsbooks.
The NCAA said it actively avoids any appearance of affiliation with gambling and said in the complaint that DraftKings鈥� use of the terms confuses customers by making it appear the NCAA is on board.
DraftKings said its use of the terms is protected under the First Amendment, arguing the NCAA’s trademark claim would fail on the merits.
鈥淣o trademark gives any organization the right to monopolize the language fans, players, journalists, and sportsbooks use every day to accurately refer to college basketball tournaments,鈥� the company said in a statement.
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