March Madness

Once again, it's my favorite time of year, when I let everything in my life slip dangerously close to critical levels so I can spend more time watching some great college basketball. March Madness has always been a big deal, but ever since the NCAA and CBS worked out an 11-year, $6 billion dollar contract for coverage rights in 1999, it has become a HUGE deal. Everyone wants in on the madness, and advertisers have been no exception.

There are so many issues around March Madness--like the yearly debate of whether the key instruments in this whole industry (players) should see some of the considerable revenues they help bring in. But I won't touch that here, seeing as I don't want to spend a few weeks outlining all the different arguments.

Every year, though, you see your local, sleazy used car dealer doing a "March Madness Sale" commercial while he clumsily dribbles a basketball around. Aside from being painful to watch, I wonder how many of these commercials are violating trademark laws. In one case involving national advertising, the NCAA successfully ordered Liberty Mutual Insurance to cease use of the March Madness phrase, which was used in a print advertising campaign. I never knew before this that "March Madness" was a registered trademark of the NCAA.

But, even if these local businesses are using the phrase illegally, is it likely that the NCAA will stop them from doing it? They are no doubt benefiting from use of the phrase whether it is endorsed by the NCAA or not. And it would be too hard for the NCAA to police all of the local advertising areas in America to make sure no one is using its phrase. I would be curious to know how much this goes on with other nationally held trademarks. Local advertisers seem to have some room for more activity such as this due to their small markets, and the fact that people outside these markets are not exposed to the ads. In most cases, it is probably not worth a national company's time to deal with the legal aspects surrounding a case like this.

My conclusion would be that many local companies illegally use registered trademarks in their advertising. They can do this because corporations do not have the time and money to go after them, and the revenue they bring in from these ads is likely small when compared to what a national company would bring in with them.