Ambush Marketing in the United States

Summary

This practice note discusses ambush marketing in the United States. It covers direct, indirect, and incidental ambush marketing, including the subcategories of predatory, coattail, self, associative, distractive, unintentional, and saturation ambushing, protection under the Lanham Act and case law, and how ambush marketing can potentially violate applicable state unfair competition and commercial contract laws. This practice note also discusses ambush marketing in the context of the Olympics and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), including statutory protection under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 (amended and renamed the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act) and Rule 40.3 of the Olympic Charter.