The NCAA initiated legal action against DraftKings on Friday, alleging the betting firm’s unauthorized use of its registered marks, specifically citing phrases such as March Madness, Final Four, and other terms connected with the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The NCAA is seeking an urgent interim injunction to prevent DraftKings from utilizing its protected designations, as stated in the legal complaint, which was lodged on Friday with the federal judiciary in the Southern District of Indiana.
DraftKings’ betting application displayed numerous mentions of March Madness, Sweet Sixteen, Elite 8, and Final Four, accompanying wagering choices on Friday evening. ESPN, holding a corporate collaboration with DraftKings, has contacted the betting firm seeking a response.
“Because DraftKings is presently violating the NCAA’s intellectual property amidst the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I Basketball Tournaments (“Tournaments”) and the NCAA has steadfastly declined association with the wagering sector, this matter is pressing and vital to the NCAA’s institutional objective,” the complaint states.
Via an announcement regarding the lawsuit, the NCAA stated that DraftKings’ “unlicensed utilization of its trademarks is squarely conflicting with one of the Association’s most profoundly cherished organizational principles: that wagering on sports should not be connected with, sanctioned by, or tied to NCAA title events or the collegiate competitors participating therein.”