Parties
March Madness Athletic Association, L.L.C.
Defendants
Netfire, Inc. and Sports Marketing International Inc.
Statement of Issues
The case involves a trademark issue between March Madness Athletic Association(MMAA) and Netfire, Inc. and Sports Marketing International Inc. (SMI). MMAA brought suit to SMI and Netfire for cybersquatting, false representation, trademark infringement, and unfair competition under the Lanham Act and state law, as well as civil conspiracy under state law, for their use of the term "march madness" in a domain name(http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?).
Arguments of the Plaintiff
In 1982 during the NCAA Tournament Brent Musbereger the broadcaster for CBS used the phrase March Madness
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This meeting occurred between late December 1995 and early January 1996. Dirk Brinkerhoff’s company SMI was trying to start a website strictly for the NCAA Basketball Tournament and Matthew Jones mentioned to Dirk that the website name was available for use. Mr. Jones was a very experience individual in attaining websites and had done it hundreds of times for other clients. The problem this time is that Mr. Jones forgot to do an inquire on the website; which if he did, he would had run into an issue that the website had already been registered or trademark by someone else. Mr. Jones had never done an extended inquire on a website before for any of his …show more content…
and Sports Marketing International Inc. (SMI) had engage in trademark infringement and cybersquatting. They were to stop using the phrase March Madness and to be held liable for the cost of action.
Rationale
While reviewing the case, the courts determined that the phrase “march madness” is a protected trademark and not just a common name.
The March Madness phrase is part of the NCAA Basketball Tournament to describe the Tournament during the month of March. This name is a very unique name not as such names 'Spring Championship,' or 'Basketball League Finals,' etc. There are other tournaments that coexist such as the National Invitational Tournament (the "NIT") during the month of March.
The phrase “March Madness” has become the second name for the NCCA Basketball Tournament. Individuals from all ages can relate to the phrase “March Madness” and they look forward to the tournament in March. Participants took a survey and the outcome would become, so confusing for the public in having the trademark by the NCCA and the website by
Wieberg, Steve. “NCAA Ponders Future of Indian Nicknames.” USA Today 15 May. 2005. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Wausau East Library, Wausau, WI. 16 Nov. 2008.< http://www.sirs.com>.
In 1986, it was hinted that people were giving money to Southern Methodist University to bolster the football program. After this was confirmed, the NCAA began taking action and started its own investigation into the program. Upon completing their investigation, they found that all prior allegations were true and began sanctioning the program. On February 25, 1987, the SMU football program, already the most penalized program in history, received the harshest sanctions ever hande...
There have been many historical moments with the University of Dayton Flyers Men’s Basketball team, but Mark Weaver recalls of the one that meant most to him. It took place on March 24, 1967, in Louisville’s Freedom Hall for the Final Four of the NCAA (National College Athletic Association) tournament against the highly favored North Carolina Tar Heels (Collett 228). This was the third straight NCAA tournament appearance for the Flyers, but their first ever Final Four (Collett 228). It turned out that the Flyers smashed North Carolina, seventy-six to sixty-two. Don May hit a record thirteen straight field goals and scored thirty-four points (Collett 228). Mark Weaver, a lifetime fan said, “I remember that game like it was yesterday, it almost brings tears to my eyes. I have never seen UD party like we did the night of that game. I have been following Dayton basketball since the mid-1960s and I have yet to witness the team getting a greater win than the one over the Tar Heels.”
Bruce Sain who was the plaintiff in the case attended Jefferson High School, which was in the defendants school district. He played basketball for the school and was very good at it, so good that he planned on getting a scholarship to finance his college education. In order to be eligible to play sports in college you must meet certain course requirements be the NCAA, which Sain was working on doing. In his senior year he still needed three English credits to satisfy the NCAA requirements and since he went to a school that brock their year down into trimesters, he thought this would be no problem. He completed his first English course and enrolled into his second, but for some reason or another he disliked the class, so he went to his school counselor to see what he could do. The counselor told him to enroll into a class called technical Communications, which the counselor assured him would be approved by the NCAA clearinghouse.
Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples. Every time the month of March rolls around, there is always some sense of hype in the air. That’s when the nation’s best college basketball teams compete against each other. It is as celebrated with each college being its own celebrity.
Mr. Porter was the secretary of the Illinois High School Association. He wrote an article that was called “March Madness” and they took this saying into the invitational where fans could use it for the basketball games during March (Latrel, 2013). However, this March madness that Henry Porter created didn’t start with college athletics. It started as a small high school invitational tournament in Illinois. The Illinois High School Association sponsored this March madness event where local boys high school teams competed at the University of Illinois arena.
Gregory, Sean. "The Real March Madness?." Time 181.11 (2013): 60. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Legal Issue(s): Constitutional Law; Bill of Rights, Freedom of Speech, Free Press. This is a case of whether or not the WIAA’s licensing agreements contract violated Gannett’s First Amendment rights to broadcast the tournament games that the WIAA put on.
DeCourcy, Mike. "NBA, College Benefits from One-and-done Rule." Sporting News. N.p., 20 June 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
In the early 2000s Baylor University’s basketball, men’s team underwent tough times of investigations and was later found guilty of breaking several NCAA rules and was punished. The athlete scandal erupted after the murder of Baylor university basketball player Patrick Dennehy. He was a junior forward from the University of New Mexico due to his sophomore season in year 2001-2002. In the summer of 2003, Dennehy and his teammate who later confessed to be the killer of Dennehy said that they were concerned about their safety. However, on 25th June 2003, Dennehy’s car was found in Virginia Beach with no license plates. A confession that had been filed on 23rd June that was seeking a search warrant for Dennehy’s computer expressed that an expert from Delaware informed police that Doston who was by that time at home ...
Staples, Andy. "Online jersey sales highlight NCAA's hypocrisy on amateurism." SportsIllustrated.com. Sports Illustrated, 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Luzer, Daniel. "College Guide: The Profit in College Sports." The Washington Monthly. N.p., 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
College basketball is full of heart, hustle and the sheer will of wanting to win every single game while in the NBA a loss does not matter to the extent it does in college basketball. When it comes to playoffs in the NBA is nowhere close to as serious and fun to watch as March Madness. March Madness is either win or you die. While the NBA you have seven chances to win four games, with this you lose a certain degree of competition. If you have one chance one shot at winning the national championship the amount of heart and effort that individuals put into the game is so noticeable higher that it is hard to explain. With several March Madness game ending in low score margins that change every few seconds and often games ending with game winning three pointers or half court miracle tosses. When it comes to the comparison of NBA and College Basketball College wins without a
“The NCAA takes in about $800 million in revenue a year from the 'March Madness ' men 's basketball tournament”(Majerol). Just for a couple of months of basketball games, not including every other sport or season game, $800,000,000 is obtained. None of this money goes to the players that are playing the game and earning the money for the school and the NCAA. “The NCAA could take even a portion of the $80 million surplus and dish out the money back to the very students who directly contribute to the accumulation of such high revenue”(Wesley). With all the extra money that this not for profit organization has, they should award a stipend that will lend a hand to the students with their living
The NCAA is a global, and well-known company that regulates collegiate sports with thousands of universities across the country. The NCAA organizational assessment shows its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to all competitors. In this current market environment, I assessed and prioritize what strengths and weaknesses were most important and which strengths have to continue to grow and what weaknesses needed to be mitigated. It is tough for the NCAA to have great competition due to the fact that it is far beyond any competitions and doesn’t seem to show any sign of slowing down soon. Issues, whether political or ethical, or whatever the case may be, as long as the NCAA continues to analyze its “SWOT” then they will always be the leader in the current market