The city of San Francisco has filed a lawsuit against Oakland, stating that renaming the airport would violate its trademark and lead to confusion.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed a federal lawsuit Thursday after the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners approved a plan to rename the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.
The lawsuit argues that the Oakland airport aims to boost passengers and profits by unlawfully using the trademarked name of San Francisco Airports “SFO” for itself.
Chiu claims that the plan disregards SFO’s established brand and identity and would violate federal and state intellectual property law.
“Oakland Airport’s rushed and unnecessary actions and refusal to consider alternative names have forced the City and County of San Francisco to file this complaint against the Defendant City of Oakland,” the lawsuit said.
Chiu said in a statement, first reported by ABC News, that they had hoped Oakland would “come to its senses” but refused to cooperate on an alternative name.
The San Francisco City Attorney’s statement announcement of the lawsuit said the name change would likely result in widespread confusion among travelers and travel mishaps that could have been avoided.
“This new name will cause confusion and chaos for travelers, which will damage the travel industry for the entire region. We are already seeing at least one airline use the new name, indicated that SFO has already suffered economic harm,” Chiu’s statement said. “We want to see the entire Bay Area thrive as a tourist destination and expand our offerings to visitors, but the renaming is not a legal or practical way to go about it.”
The City of San Francisco has owned the U.S. federal trademark for “San Francisco International Airport” since the 1950s, the statement said.
The City Attorney’s statement also noted that the City of Oakland only gave San Francisco a 30-minute notice of the renaming plan before the new name was announced to the public on March 29. Multiple attempts to reach Oakland officials to meet “have gone unanswered.”
The Hill has reached out to the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners for comment.
