U.S. District Court Halts Oakland Airport From Using ‘San Francisco Bay’ In Name

A new ruling by the United States District Court, Northern District of California on Tuesday temporarily ordered the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport from using “San Francisco Bay” in their name, in promotions, in advertisements, and in products.

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. Despite the litigation, Oakland went ahead in May and unanimously voted to change the name. 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.

Oakland ordered to drop ‘San Francisco Bay’ from airport name

“The Port has taken San Francisco’s valuable Mark and applied it to a smaller, less successful, and lower rated airport,” said the injunction. “Accordingly, San Francisco will suffer irreparable harm if a preliminary injunction is not issued.”

This led to Tuesday when the court ruled in favor of San Francisco, agreeing over the confusing name change and San Francisco presenting three types of name confusion being present. They granted the wanted preliminary injunction, forcing Oakland to drop ‘San Francisco Bay’ from their name. While the order is only temporary until a final case on the matter is resolved, it was seen as a major victory for San Francisco, with Oakland having to revert usage of the name virtually everywhere for the time being.

Oakland officials gave a statement on Tuesday, denouncing the injunction, saying that “The court’s ruling found that two of the three types of confusion alleged by SFO were without merit.

“The court order temporarily blocks OAK’s new name on the basis of the third type of alleged confusion: that travelers may think OAK is affiliated with SFO. OAK is not associated with SFO, of course, but is rather a convenient and centrally located option for travelers throughout the Bay Area.

“We are continuing to review the recent ruling and considering all available options.”

As noted by their last sentence, Oakland is likely going to try and find a legal way to resume using the name and will likely pour more resources into securing the name change through a future ruling in their favor.

“San Francisco showed a lot of evidence, from travelers mistaking one airport for the other to social media users tagging the wrong airport,” said aviation lawyer Sarah Granger to the Globe on Tuesday. “The big thing here is all the lost travelers heading to the wrong airport. When your airport name starts to wreck people’s lives, it was not a good name change. The Court saw that today, and Oakland is going to have a hard time trying to convince them otherwise.

“There’s other ways to show you’re an airport in the area. A lot of other ways. They went with the most litigious option possible. They’re just learning now all the consequences of it.”

A larger ruling on the case is currently ongoing in the District Court.