Intent to Use

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History of March Madness®

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Written by Anastasios G. Garbis

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Intellectual Property | Trademarks

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March 13, 2015

It’s March. That can only mean one thing: basketball…and lots of it. After watching my Fighting Illini play themselves out of the B1G Tournament yesterday while simultaneously hurting their NCAA tournament chances, clearly the only thing left for me to do was to tie in a post about trademarks.

As with all sporting events, there are various trademark issues at play. The focus on today is the MARCH MADNESS® trademark. It’s ok Illini fans, take comfort in knowing that “March Madness” likely started in Illinois!

According to the Illinois High School Association (“IHSA”), the term was coined by Henry V. Porter and first used in an IHSA magazine back in 1939 to promote an annual tournament of high school boys’ basketball teams. The name stuck and was used by the IHSA and media outlets as the tournament grew in popularity. Eventually, in 1977, the IHSA had a book written on the history of the Illinois tournaments titled March Madness: The Story of High School Basketball in Illinois with a video following in 1989 titled March Madness: The Official Video History of the IHSA Basketball Tournament. As the mark became more popular, the IHSA began licensing the term to some of its sponsors.

In 1982, the term went mainstream thanks to CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger who was covering the NCAA tournament. However, no one had applied for a federal trademark until 1989 when a Chicago based sports marketing firm, Intersport Inc., applied for and received protection for the MARCH MADNESS term. In 1995, Intersport assigned the trademark to the IHSA while also maintaining some rights.

The IHSA and NCAA meanwhile, were trying to determine who actually owned the mark after the IHSA sued when an NCAA sponsor was using the term in a video game release. Eventually, the two organizations agreed to form a single entity, the March Madness Athletic Association, which would hold the rights to the marks and license them out accordingly. The arrangement led to the IHSA maintaining rights for the high school games while the NCAA owns the rest. As for Intersport who had the business savvy to register the mark? According to an article in the L.A. Times, the company was given $17.2 million in 2010 for its rights to the name.

Happy March, basketball fans…let the Madness begin!