Try to capitalize commercially on a familiar tournament catch phrase and the NCAA's lawyers may be on you like a full-court press.
View full sizeWhen it comes to establishing "The Road To ... " anywhere, you had better get your signed contracts from the NCAA, or have something directly to do with the playing of its basketball championship -- such as Tulsa's BOK Center, a second-round host site.Related stories
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As the "68 Teams, One Dream" slotted on "Selection Sunday" are whittled to "Sweet 16," "Elite Eight" and "The Final Four," then the madness of March really begins.
Not just on the basketball court, but possibly in court.
The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, which will hold second- and third-round games at The Q on Friday and Sunday, is hugely popular. But try to capitalize commercially on a familiar tournament catch phrase and their lawyers may be on you like a full-court press.
The local sports bar promoting "March Madness" drink specials and "Final Four" watch parties? That's a flagrant foul. And any commercial venture reproducing the tournament brackets -- newspapers and Web sites included -- had better not have paid advertising within them.
Astute business types, those NCAA folks.
They own the rights to 79 trademarks and logos. So you need the association's approval to use any of the above, plus such once-generic phrases as "The Big Dance" or "And Then There Were Four."
In fact, "The Road to Cleveland" is also off limits commercially without the NCAA's blessing.
"How would they ever know?" you say. The NCAA's trademark police are on the case, especially this time of year.
"This is sort of the peak season," said Jay Rossello, the NCAA's director of legal affairs and assistant general counsel.
The NCAA used to award prizes to employees who found the most trademark infringements, although spokeswoman Gail Dent said the practice was dropped. The association also relies on tips from sponsors who pay big bucks for rights to use the terms and logos, especially in host cities like Cleveland this year.
Rossello said his office sends out "well into the hundreds" of cease-and-desist letters.
"Just today," he said recently, "we've had 12 to 15 instances that we looked into and addressed."
And that was by mid-afternoon. Most are to small "mom and pop" outfits who had no idea "March Madness" and "Final Four" were protected. But violators have been as large as Fortune 500 companies trying to get as close to the legal line as possible.
Lawsuits are rare, although in 2002 the NCAA sued Coors over an unapproved ticket giveaway with the phrase "Final Four." Which brings us to an ironic tale about where the three most familiar expressions came from.
Let's just say they didn't spring from the creative minds of the NCAA marketing department. But the association was smart enough to identify a business opportunity and seize it.
"Sweet 16"
Actually coined by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. When the KHSAA registered the trademark in 1988, it had been using the slogan for more than 70 years for its state tournament. (Each of the 16 regions sends a team.)
In the mid-'90s, the NCAA forked over $50,000 to use it, too. Through the years, others have paid a $500 licensing fee for a one-time use, said Commissioner Julian Tackett of the Kentucky association.
"Final Four"
Was a mere passing reference by Ed Chay, the late Plain Dealer sportswriter, in a story he wrote on page 5 of the 1975 Official Collegiate Basketball Guide.
"Outspoken Al McGuire of Marquette, whose team was one of the final four in Greensboro, was among several coaches who said it was good for college basketball that UCLA was finally beaten," Chay wrote.
"Final Four" was first capitalized in the NCAA's 1978 basketball guide.
Pretty sure Chay didn't see a dime.
"March Madness"
Also born as a literary term. The Illinois state high school boys basketball tournament began in 1908 as a tiny invitational. By the 1930s, it had ballooned into a major statewide event, moving Henry V. Porter, then assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association, to write an essay about it.
It was published in the association's magazine in 1939. "A little March madness," Porter wrote, "may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel."
By the early '90s, the IHSA and NCAA both claimed rights to the phrase. Lawyers got involved.
They compromised, forming something called the March Madness Athletic Association LLC. It allows for joint use of "March Madness," one exclusively for high school and the other for college.
Talk about madness.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/marchmadness/index.ssf/2011/03/interested_in_making_some_prof.html
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