It was a fun idea and nifty example of alliteration, a political slam dunk, but campaign organizers for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell dropped the ball on a contest idea that infringed on a trademarked name.
McDonnell, a Republican, this week on his Web site unveiled a contest called “McDonnell March Madness” patterned after the NCAA basketball tournament.
Problem is that the words “March Madness” are under trademark protection by the NCAA. On Wednesday, Gail Dent, NCAA associate director of public and media relations, said in response to a Bristol Herald Courier inquiry that the organization can allow other groups to use the term through a licensing agreement – i.e. in exchange for big bucks. McDonnell’s campaign, however, did not ask.
Furthermore, because the NCAA is a nonprofit organization for tax purposes, it could not grant permission to a politician to use the words in a political campaign.
On Thursday, McDonnell’s director of communications, Tucker Martin, took the heat for the misnamed promotion. He said he’d been so focused on making sure the campaign wasn’t violating any other rules or laws – that it really isn’t gambling, that no money is changing hands, that people understand it’s just for fun – that the name thing got past him.
“The responsibility that we should have considered another name should rest with me,” Martin said.
The campaign got the idea, he said, from a similar gimmick that Sen. John McCain used last year during the presidential race. McCain devised his own “McCain March Madness” promotion in which he picked his choices for the basketball tournament and invited others to play.
Note to the McDonnell campaign: McCain also was asked to change the name. And McCain lost.
The McCain March Madness campaign has disappeared from the Web, and so has the McDonnell promotion.
On Wednesday, Dent said the NCAA attorneys would contact McDonnell and ask his campaign to stop using the words “March Madness.”
On Thursday, Martin said the campaign already received an e-mail the NCAA sent to the Virginia Association of Broadcasters reminding it that the words “March Madness,” “Final Four” and “NCAA Championships” are registered trademarks of the NCAA.
By noon on Thursday, McDonnell’s site had a new name for his basketball campaign – McDonnell’s Bracket Madness.
McDonnell is a huge basketball fan, Martin stressed, and would never want to run afoul of the NCAA. The apology and name change were quick and correct responses, but the candidate’s use of a trademarked name in the first place was an air ball.
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