A Pennsylvania lawsuit filed against the NFL, FanDuel, and DraftKings has accused all three of contributing to gambling addiction and financial losses by using real-time...
Judge supports DraftKings in NCAA trademark battle
US District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt has denied the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) request to order DraftKings to stop using its March Madness tournament trademarks.
First, DraftKings was sued by the NCAA for March Madness trademark usage on March 20, 2026, after which DraftKings insisted that the NCAA March Madness terms are universally recognized.
The judge has now dismissed the NCAA’s motion, stating that the association didn’t appropriately show how it would suffer irreparable harm by the use of its trademarks by DraftKings. The decision will allow DraftKings to continue using March Madness, Final Four, Elite Eight, and other recognizable terms during the 2026 college basketball tournaments.
The ruling took into consideration the fact that DraftKings had been using the terminology for more than five years, which undermined the NCAA’s claim of urgency. However, the judge didn’t dismiss the NCAA’s wider claims, meaning that the organization can still succeed in its trademark usage case.
The operator has justified its position by stating that the usage of these phrases can be classified under fair use covered under the U.S. First Amendment. But the NCAA believes that using its intellectual property connected to betting could confuse its consumers.
After the court decision, the NCAA still showed confidence in the case, pointing to the judge’s remarks that confusion among consumers is possible. As a result, the case is still ongoing in the Southern District of Indiana, as the association is preparing to push its claims through discovery and a jury trial.
After DraftKings was sued by the NCAA for March Madness trademark usage, the operator is now insisting that terms like March Madness are universally recognized for the...
