Intersport, Inc. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association

              THIRD DIVISION
March 26, 2008
No. 1-07-0626
INTERSPORT, INC., ) Appeal from
) the Circuit Court
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) of Cook County.
)
v. ))
No. 06 CH 04874
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC )
ASSOCIATION and MARCH MADNESS ATHLETIC )
ASSOCIATION, L.L.C., ) Honorable
) Stuart Palmer,
Defendants-Appellants. ) Judge Presiding.
JUSTICE THEIS delivered the opinion of the court:
Defendants, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (the NCAA) and the March
Madness Athletic Association, L.L.C. (the MMAA), appeal from the order of the circuit court of
Cook County entering a declaratory judgment in favor of plaintiff Intersport, Inc. Specifically,
the circuit court found that Intersport’s license from the MMAA to use the trademark term
“March Madness” to “advertise, promote, and sell videos” of certain sports programming
encompassed the right to distribute content to video-enabled wireless communications devices on
demand. On appeal, defendants now contend that: (1) the circuit court erred in interpreting the
term “videos” as including material transmitted to Sprint PCS cell phone customers on demand;
(2) the circuit court impermissibly rewrote the language of Intersport’s license agreement; and (3)
the circuit court had an insufficient factual basis to enter judgment on Intersport’s declaratory
judgment claim. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.