After Oakland changed the name of its airport earlier this year, San Francisco’s city attorney on Tuesday asked a federal judge to block the change as part of a trademark infringement lawsuit.
The motion for a preliminary injunction is asking a judge to order the city of Oakland and Port of Oakland to immediately stop using the new airport name of San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, to declare that Oakland has infringed on the trademark for San Francisco International Airport, and to pay damages and court fees, according to the office of San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu.
Chiu’s office says that since the name change in May, people have booked flights to SFO while intending to travel to the airport formerly known just as Oakland International Airport, while others have been directed to the wrong airport by digital assistants or ride-hailing services.
“We are already seeing traveler confusion around the use of Oakland’s new name,” Chiu said in a statement. “This was entirely predictable and preventable. We tried to reason with Oakland officials to avoid litigation and come up with alternative names that would work for all of us. Unfortunately, those efforts were not productive, and we have no choice but to ask the court to step in and protect our trademark.”
San Francisco initially sued Oakland in April ahead of the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners’ vote to change the name, and Oakland in May answered the complaint and filed a counterclaim, denying any trademark violation and saying the name change was intended to provide the accurate geographic location for the airport along San Francisco Bay.
Oakland denied that any confusion would occur and said it is not unusual for more than one airport to use the same geographic name, like Chicago and Dallas in the U.S. and London, Paris and Beijing internationally.
San Francisco and Oakland went into mediation over the name dispute late last month but Chiu’s office said that was “not fruitful,” prompting the request for a preliminary injunction.
Mary Richardson, attorney for the Port of Oakland, which oversees the airport, said in a statement that Tuesday’s court filing by San Francisco “is a continuation of tactics rooted in publicity and anti-competitive bullying rather than on legal merits.”
Richardson said, “The fact that SFO waited more than four months after the official name change to file this injunctive relief request shows a complete lack of urgency about any alleged harm.”
“Let’s be clear — this lawsuit, which now includes a request aimed at immediately stopping OAK from rightly using its location on the San Francisco Bay in its name — is not an attempt by SFO to prevent confusion,” she said. “Instead, it’s nothing more than an attempt to stifle competition and travel choices by Bay Area residents and position SFO as the only airport that serves the San Francisco Bay Area.”
I agree with San Francisco. Oakland should not be stealing its name to help cover its dubious reputation. Oakland is so horrible that it makes San Francisco look like a safe haven.
(Yes, SF is much safer than Oakland)
Oakland can try to rename itself and put all the lipstick on the pig it wants, but until the city council is removed and Oakland allows the police to again fight crime, I see no hope. I work there and see the horrible things happening every single day!
SF should imho…. Oaktown is doing anything they can to “camouflage” themselves because of their horrendous image
What a waste of money & time but I guess the cesspool known as “the city” is broke with all the businesses closing due to the high crime which the elected leaders refuse to do anything about needs all the money it can squeeze out of any avenue. London Breed should be held personally responsible for all of the losses due to her abuse & negligence.
This is just plain Silly. SFO has way more flights, SF like OAK is a S***hole to visit, the areas around the Tourist Hotels is infested. Sadly the reasons for vacationing here are becoming less and less. Goodbye Tourist Industry unless there is a major clean up.