With the NCAA men's college basketball Final Four in
Indianapolis this weekend, local business owners "stand an
even greater chance of running afoul" of the NCAA's "strict
policy against poaching its trademarked phrases," according
to John Masson of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR, who notes that
"about" 250 U.S. businesses have been "caught in so-called
'trademark ambushes' this year." NCAA attorney Scott Bearby
said that the phrase "The Big Dance" is in the "final stages
of trademark registration," marking the "most recent
addition" to the 25 trademarked phrases around the
tournament. Bearby: "While it seems extreme for us to ask
somebody to take down a sign with 'Final Four' in their
restaurant, the fact is if we don't, we run a very real risk
of basically losing control." Masson notes that trademark
law "works on a use-it-or-lose-it principle," meaning that
if an organization "doesn't make an effort to preserve
exclusivity, the protected phrase can become a generic part
of the language." But Restaurant & Hospitality Association
of IN Dir John Livengood said the NCAA "prohibiting" a
business from putting up a sign "welcoming" NCAA fans is
"kind of ludicrous. I don't understand the policy. If I
were the NCAA, I would encourage that sort of thing"
(INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 3/29).
NOT KIDD-ING AROUND: Marc Kidd, President of Host
Sports, the NCAA's sponsorship agency, writes in BRANDWEEK
that "ambushes detract from those corporations that have
chosen to invest" in the NCAA. Kidd notes that 85% of the
"monies spent" by NCAA corporate partners "to associate
their logos and products" with the Final Four "benefit the
student-athletes who participate in the tournament." Kidd:
"You hope the public is astute enough to recognize the
difference between an ambush marketer and an official
marketer. ... You also hope the public is astute enough to
take these [ambush] marketers to task, and demand of them
that they invest in the student-athletes whom they're
attempting to exploit" (BRANDWEEK, 3/27 issue).
