March (Trademark) Madness!

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is taking a cue from the International Olympic Committee and is aggressively defending its trademark rights to the name of its yearly basketball tournament.

The NCAA is going after businesses who use "March Madness" or "Final Four" without permission. The tournament is one of the most viewed sporting events of the year, and some businesses try to capitalize off of that popularity by using the marks without permission. Read all about it in the LA Times here.

I'm curious about the adult website that used "explicit puns on the trademarked basketball terms," but it's probably not something that I'll investigate any further.

In other government-meets-basketball-tournament news, President Barack Obama has made his picks for the championship. I'm glad to see that he's got my alma mater making it to the Final Four.