Port Of Oakland Appeals Temporary Court Ruling Blocking use of ‘San Francisco Bay’ In Name

The Port of Oakland announced late on Thursday that they would be challenging the November District Court ruling that temporarily blocks them from using “San Francisco Bay” in the name of Oakland’s airport, continuing the now 9 month long battle between San Francisco and Oakland over the attempted name change.

The name change plan from “Oakland International Airport” to “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport” was released in late March, as the Globe reported. According to Oakland Airport officials, the airport’s name is often confusing for travelers, as the name of the airport fails to give the impression just how close the airport is to San Francisco. That lack of understanding, according to airport officials, have also cost the airport major airline routes and passengers. While officials have said that the airport will not be changing their airport code away from OAK or any Oakland visual branding, it would create an overall identity change.

San Francisco and San Francisco Airport officials quickly denounced the name proposal, saying it would only confuse travelers with a mix up over the San Francisco Airport name. Many travelers would also likely book wrongly because of the name change, constituting lost connections and a long travel distance between airports.

A back and forth between the cities ensued, with Oakland claiming the name was more geographic than anything else. However, the name change proved to be very unpopular across the Bay, with groups such as the NAACP and tech companies coming out in opposition. As the April 11th vote by the Port of Oakland neared, Chiu warned them that they would be filing a lawsuit if the name change was approved.

Despite the impending lawsuit and the majority of Bay area residents and lawmakers opposed to the name change, the Port of Oakland went ahead and approved the new name in mid-April in a unanimous vote. Less than a week later, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed a lawsuit against Oakland over trademark infringement. San Francisco then vowed to file a preliminary injunction.

Throughout this time, the name change confusion has led to many travelers being confused between the two airports, with some flying to Oakland instead of San Francisco to their detriment. Meanwhile, City and County of San Francisco v. City of Oakland and Port of Oakland continued to go through the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, with both parties agreeing to formal mediation. San Francisco even held off the injunction, giving Oakland the benefit of the doubt. However, the August 27th mediation ended up going nowhere, leading San Francisco to go back towards a preliminary injunction to stop the name change. This led to the filing of the injunction by Chiu in September and the U.S. District Court granting the injunction last month.

Fighting the preliminary injunction

The Port of Oakland vowed to fight the temporary injunction in order to keep their new name, leading to their announcement on Thursday. According to the Port of Oakland, they filed a Notice of Appeal challenging the district court’s November order. They charged that the San Francisco International Airport is trying to “stifle competition” amongst Bay Area airport, adding that “Bay Area travelers deserve adequate choices among airports in the same metro region that are allowed to compete on a level playing field”. They also challenge the injunction by alleging that San Francisco did not present factual or legal evidence sufficient to support the court’s temporary prohibition on Oakland using its new name.

“This lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to stifle competition and travel choices for the Bay Area,” said Port of Oakland Attorney Mary Richardson in the statement. “San Francisco is trying to relegate OAK and Oakland to second-class citizens. The Port has no interest in passing off OAK as SFO. OAK is distinctly and proudly Oakland. The Port has always been proud of its airport and has spent years developing its distinct branding.

“OAK literally sits on the San Francisco Bay. Earlier this year, the Board of Port Commissioners approved a name change to include this geographic reference in the airport’s name while maintaining the OAK airport code, distinct branding, and the “I Fly OAK” logo. OAK is the closest major airport to 58 percent of the Bay Area population. The combined population of the counties closest to OAK is 4.1 million, compared with 1.5 million in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.”

While the appeal is likely to be briefed in the next few months with an overall ruling due sometime next year, numerous judges and legal experts have been casting increasing doubt over Oakland’s chances of succeeding. The District Court’s ruling last month even pointed out that “The Port has taken San Francisco’s valuable Mark and applied it to a smaller, less successful, and lower rated airport. Accordingly, San Francisco will suffer irreparable harm if a preliminary injunction is not issued.”

Others pointed out just how off Oakland’s argument is.

“Oakland is very much ignoring the tons of travelers who booked with the wrong airport when the name was changed,” said aviation lawyer Sarah Granger to the Globe on Friday. “The name change wrecked people’s day-to-day lives. Of course they issued the injunction.

“Oakland really missed out on an opportunity here though. The Port could have chosen not to use the “San Francisco Bay” moniker as the majority of Bay Area residents did not want, and instead give the airport a unique spin. We’ve talked about it before, but a lot of great people came out of Oakland, and the airport naming it after them would reflect that. Columbus in Ohio changed their airport to be named after John Glenn. Honolulu renamed their to honor Daniel Inouye. Las Vegas recently renamed their airport after Harry Reid. Those are unique and really stick out.

“But no, Oakland went the least intelligent way possible and changed their name despite being warned not to. They sunk a lot of money into the name change, and put a lot of their pride in it. That’s why they aren’t backing down. They claimed it was to be competitive, but they didn’t really gain a lot of flights or people flying in during the name change time. So those arguments are moot.

“Oakland needs to realize that they are quickly losing this one and really need to consider stopping all this before airlines leave their airport over all this trouble.”

As of Friday, the San Francisco airport has yet to respond.