DraftKings responds to NCAA trademark infringement lawsuit regarding March Madness
DraftKings filed its response to the NCAA trademark infringement lawsuit Wednesday and claimed its use of “March Madness” and affiliated terms are protected under the First Amendment, according to ESPN via the Associated Press . The popular sports gambling company argued the NCAA’s landmark trademark lawsuit will fail on its merits in a Wednesday filing in the Southern District of Indiana. The NCAA announced its lawsuit against DraftKings last Friday citing trademark infringement for its use of the organizations’ federally-registered “March Madness,” “Final Four,” “Elite Eight,” “Sweet Sixteen,” and all variations, and is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) to immediately prevent the sports betting service from further using those terms to promote its business.
But in its response, DraftKings argued those terms are “universally recognized names for the tournaments and their rounds, used by millions of college basketball fans, journalists, and participants in the sports-betting eco-system” as well as other online sportsbooks not currently being sued by the NCAA, per the AP. “No 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,” DraftKings said in a statement. DraftKings also argued the NCAA’s request for a TRO is “based on a contrived and manufactured ’emergency'” while also citing its partnership with Genius Sports, the NCAA’s exclusive distributor of official NCAA data to various sportsbooks through 2032.
In a statement Friday, the NCAA said use of such trademarks goes against one of the association’s core values about separating sports betting from NCAA championships. It also cited protection of its student-athletes as a reason for filing the lawsuit. “The NCAA makes clear in the complaint and its motion that every day that DraftKings continues to use these marks, millions of sports fans – and, critically, college students and young adults who are particularly susceptible to gambling harm – are exposed to the false suggestion that the Association has authorized or endorsed DraftKings’ gambling platform,” the NCAA statement read Friday.
“This causes confusion among NCAA members and student-athletes that the Association is involved with and/or endorsing sports betting, which is in direct contradiction to its robust education, integrity monitoring, anti-harassment and advocacy efforts to end risky prop bets. “The NCAA does not have any commercial relationships with any sportsbooks of any kind and continues to uphold a strict prohibition on advertising and sponsorships associated with betting. The NCAA says filing this complaint is a crucial step in furthering its mission to protect the integrity of competition and student-athlete well-being from the harms of sports betting.
” The 2026 NCAA Tournament enters its second weekend of action tonight, with Sweet Sixteen games running Thursday and Friday, and the Elite Eight round held Saturday and Sunday. The organization had initially requested an emergency TRO hearing be held prior to the start of Sweet Sixteen games Thursday.