March Basketball Madness Signs & Banner Advertising

Avoiding Trademark Infringement When Advertising March Madness Events With Signs and Banners
March Madness Banners

Local Sports Bars & Grills from all over America are gearing up to promote their special events for the hugely hyped March Madness Basketball Tournaments starting on March 14th. The March Madness basketball tournament season is one of the premiere sporting events of the year known for taking basketball fans off their couch and into one of many local social spots for some great fun. Whether it is the local bar and grill planning an event to watch their favorite two college teams duke it out to move up in the brackets, or your local church is planning a "March Madness" Church gathering event for its members, one can be certain that there will be a hoopla of locally planned basketball fan frenzy to assist in the March basketball hype this year.

With the basketball tournaments starting on March 14th, restaurants, bars and many other sponsored event planners will begin advertising their own events up to the very hour each of the NCAA televised basketball games start, but one needs to be extremely careful when it comes to verbiage used in the sign advertising used to draw in local basketball fans. We highly recommend that nobody uses the term, "March Madness" when marketing any business or hospitality event that brings in fans for a profit. However, there is no reason why local restaurants and sports bars can't provide some drink or food specials signage that advertises tournament events and coordinates with live televised scheduled game times of the NCAA teams as they move toward the, "Final Four". Offering live televised events of the college basketball tournaments in a social atmosphere of spectating fans enjoying themselves in groups is half the fun during the month of March.

The NCAA Trademarked Names to Stay Away From When Making Your Banners and Signs

"March Madness," "Sweet Sixteen," "The Brackets," Final Four," and other terms are trademarked and should be avoided in the making of signs or banners for advertising televised college basketball tournament events. Sometimes knowing which terms have been trademarked by the NCAA and what verbiage can be used in a sign to advertise events is difficult, so this NCAA Trademark Guide was published to assist business owners make signs for advertising their own events easier. Reviewing and following this NCAA trademark guide when customizing your March Basketball Tournament Madness signs for advertising any television event or restaurant special is an important part of the planning and advertising process in order to ensure your ads do not infringe on trademarks in place.

One of the reasons it is so important to ensure the custom signs and banners you make for your own ads do not infringe on existing trademarks is because these trademark owners must aggressively enforce their interests to these proprietary terms in order to keep them protected. If they begin to allow advertisers to freely use these terms without enforcing their trademark interest, they will find that their marks will end up in the public domain and no longer be considered a protected phrase or term.