The NCAA filed suit against DraftKings on Friday, accusing the sportsbook operator of trademark infringement for use of terms such as March Madness, Final Four and others related to the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The NCAA is requesting an emergency temporary restraining order to stop DraftKings from using its trademarked terms, according to the suit, which was filed Friday in federal court in the Southern District of Indiana.
The NCAA, in the suit, said it asked DraftKings to remedy the situation and the sportsbook removed some “egregious” uses of the trademarked terms, but “maintained that it has the right to use the NCAA’s trademarks directly on its sports betting apps.”
DraftKings’ sportsbook app had multiple references of March Madness, Sweet Sixteen, Elite 8 and Final Four alongside betting options on Friday night. ESPN, which has a business partnership with DraftKings, has reached out to the sportsbook for comment.
Other sportsbooks, in addition to DraftKings, were displaying March Madness and other terms, on their betting apps Friday night.
“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 suit reads.
In a release announcing the suit, the NCAA said DraftKings’ “unauthorized use of its 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.”
The NCAA requested a briefing schedule beginning Monday.
On Tuesday, NCAA president Charlie Baker submitted a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission requesting that the federal regulator suspend prediction markets from offering trading on college events.
