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The NCAA on Wednesday filed a petition to cancel the U.S. Marine Corps’ trademark registration of “Sousa’s March Mania,” a phrase that names an annual tournament of 32 musical marches held from March into April.
The petition was filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. The Marines have 40 days to answer the petition. The Marines applied for a trademark in April 2024, and the USPTO registered the mark last month. The registration is for “entertainment services” and specifically “arranging and conducting of competitions in the field of marching band performances.”
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The registration also covers “non-downloadable” photos and videos of marching band performances.
Through a brief authored by Caitlin R. Byczko and other attorneys from Barnes & Thornburg, the NCAA says it is “now and will continue to be damaged” by the registration of Sousa’s March Mania.
The NCAA notes that for many decades, it has held trademark registrations for “March-formative marks” in connection with its famed annual basketball tournament, March Madness. One such mark is NCAA March Madness Tournament, which is “distinctive” and “famous” and for which the NCAA invests considerable resources into promoting.
As the NCAA sees it, Sousa’s March Mania is “confusingly similar to the March Madness Marks” because it is “similar in appearance, sound, meaning, and commercial impression.” The similarity in goods and services—both the NCAA and Marines host annual tournaments at the same time of the year—are likely to cause confusion, the NCAA asserts.
The NCAA also draws support from the dictionary to argue that mania and madness “invoke the same commercial impression.” To that end, Merriam-Webster Dictionary regards “mania” and “madness” as synonyms. The NCAA argues that mania and madness are “likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, and to deceive the public,” which would violate the Lanham Act.
Sousa’s March Mania is named in honor of the late American composer John Philip Sousa, who served in the Marines and the U.S. Navy. Sousa led “The President’s Own” marching band in the late 1800s, and it performed before several commanders-in-chief. The modern-day tournament involves online voting with the winner crowned “The March King.”
The Marines declined to respond to a request for comment but will have the opportunity to try to rebut the NCAA’s arguments.
Expect the Marines to assert that the public is unlikely to be confused by the shared presence of March Madness, a basketball tournament played by college students, and a military and music tournament featuring sousaphones.
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