OAN’s James Meyers
1:59 PM – Friday, April 19, 2024
San Francisco has sued the city of Oakland, claiming that its plan to rename the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport would violate a trademark and “cause confusion.”
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San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday after the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners approved the plan to rename the airport to “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.”
The lawsuit from Chiu argues that the Oakland airport is hoping to “increase passengers and profit by rushing to unlawfully incorporate” San Francisco Airports “SFO” trademarked name into its own.
“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 the Defendant City of Oakland,” the lawsuit stated.
Additionally, Chiu said in a statement, according to ABC News, that they hoped that Oakland would “come to its senses.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit also claims that the name change “very likely” will cause confusion among travelers and would cause further problems at the airports.
“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.”
Meanwhile, the City of San Francisco has owned the U.S. federal trademark for “San Francisco International Airport” since the 1950s, the statement said.
Chiu also claimed that the City of Oakland only gave San Francisco a 30-minute notice of the renaming plan before the new name was announced on March 29th to the public.
However, the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners told The Hill outlet in a statement that the new name does not violate SFO’s trademark.
“We will vigorously defend our right to claim our spot on the San Francisco Bay,” the statement said. “We are standing up for Oakland and our East Bay community.”
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