Oakland Airport Puts Up a Fight to Keep ‘San Francisco Bay’ in Its New Name

The Port of Oakland is appealing a federal court order that temporarily blocked its controversial name change for the city’s airport.

The appeal, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, is the latest shot in a months-long legal battle over the new name: “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.” At the heart of the litigation is whether San Francisco International Airport has the sole right to use “San Francisco” in its name.

“The Port is appealing because Bay Area travelers deserve adequate choices among airports in the same metro region that are allowed to compete on a level playing field,” the Port of Oakland wrote in a statement.

Oakland officials voted to approve the new name in April, but San Francisco quickly filed a lawsuit alleging it infringed on SFO’s trademark.

“Regrettably, for both San Francisco and Oakland, the Port of Oakland seems intent on spending even more public resources defending a name that confuses travelers and infringes on San Francisco’s trademark,” said Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the San Francisco city attorney’s office.

Although U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson found little evidence for the argument that the name change would confuse passengers, his preliminary injunction issued last month blocks the OAK name change while the lawsuit weaves through the legal system on the basis that it would falsely imply an affiliation to SFO.

“The port has taken San Francisco’s valuable mark and applied it to a smaller, less successful, and lower-rated airport,” Hixson wrote in the Nov. 12 ruling for the preliminary injunction.

The Port of Oakland said it has spent years developing distinct branding for OAK and hopes to demonstrate through the appeal that SFO “did not present factual or legal evidence sufficient to support the court’s temporary prohibition.”

“San Francisco is trying to relegate OAK and Oakland to second-class citizens. The Port has no interest in passing off OAK as SFO,” Port of Oakland attorney Mary Richardson said in a statement. “OAK is distinctly and proudly Oakland.”

The appeal will play out in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California over the next several months.