San Francisco slams Oakland with lawsuit over airport name change
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The City of San Francisco is not happy with the City of Oakland. On Thursday, SF City Attorney David Chiu’s office slapped Oakland with a lawsuit for changing Oakland International Airport’s name.
The airport is poised to be re-named “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport,” which SF attorneys say is a “false designation of origin.”
The lawsuit states, “The Metropolitan Oakland International Airport seeks to increase passengers and profits by rushing to unlawfully incorporate San Francisco International Airport’s (SFO) trademarked name into its own. Oakland Airport’s actions ignore SFO’s longstanding protected mark, brand, and identity, violate federal and state intellectual property law, and disregard the legal infringement and consumer confusion its actions create. Oakland Airport’s hasty and unnecessary efforts and refusal to engage in discussions of alternative names have left the City and County of San Francisco no choice but to bring this complaint against Defendant City of Oakland, acting by and through its Board of Port Commissioners for federal trademark infringement and false designation of origin and unfair competition.”
The federal trademark infringement lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court Northern District of California.
Port attorney Mary Richardson said travelers know the Bay Area well enough to realize that “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport” is located in Oakland, and renaming does not infringe on SFO’s mark.
Richardson told KRON4, “SFO cannot lay claim to the geographically-descriptive term ‘San Francisco,’ let alone claim exclusive rights to the San Francisco Bay. The Port trusts that travelers understand that the San Francisco Bay — like virtually every other major metropolitan area throughout the world — can contain more than one airport. The Port will take all reasonable measures to ensure clarity for travelers with respect to OAK’s geographic location and distinctiveness.”
The lawsuit demands a jury trial to decide allegations including trademark infringement, unfair competition, false designation of origin, and common law trademark infringement.
At least one airline has begun using the new name.
Chiu asserts that the name change will undoubtedly cause “chaos” for travelers booking flights.
On Thursday Chiu said, “We had hoped Oakland would come to its senses, but their refusal to collaborate on an acceptable alternative name leaves us no choice but to file a lawsuit. This new name will cause confusion and chaos for travelers, which will damage the travel industry for the entire region.”
The lawsuit states, “Defendant’s proposal to include ‘San Francisco’ at the front of its new name, closely followed by the words ‘International Airport’ is problematic, as it will almost certainly cause confusion among consumers and the public generally. Travelers will very likely be confused and book tickets to the unintended airport.”
San Francisco city attorneys also took issue with how rapidly Oakland re-named its airport.
The lawsuit states, “On March 29, 2024, defendant issued a press release abruptly announcing its proposal to change the name to ‘San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport’ and published an agenda for the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners to vote on the proposal at its regular meeting barely two weeks later on April 11. Defendant notified the City of the intended name change by contacting the Airport Director of SFO only 30 minutes before Defendant issued the press release. The Airport Director immediately expressed significant concern and offered to discuss the matter further, but Defendant did not respond.”
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Chiu’s office claims OAK stands to receive substantial profits based on the strength of SFO’s reputation. SFO began operating in 1927, and has used the names “San Francisco Airport” and “San Francisco International Airport” throughout most of its history.
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