Oakland Airport Renamed Again in Ongoing Legal Dispute With San Francisco

After the airport’s rebrand from Metropolitan Oakland International Airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport prompted a lawsuit from San Francisco, the Port of Oakland is asking its board to approve another name change as the case makes its way through the court.

If approved, OAK airport will be called the “Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport,” which Port of Oakland Director of Aviation Craig Simon said highlights its position in the city and the larger East Bay.

“We’re proud to embrace a name that reflects both our local roots and regional reach,” he said in a letter to SFO on Friday. “‘Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport’ does both, putting Oakland first and highlighting our central location in the Bay Area for all visitors.”

The Port’s board will consider the new name at its meeting on July 10. Last April, the body officially approved the change to “Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport,” which officials said aimed to raise visitors’ geographic awareness of the airport.

It was swiftly slapped with a lawsuit from the city of San Francisco, which argued that the new name infringed on the trademark for San Francisco International (SFO) Airport, which it owns. City Attorney David Chiu said the change confused travellers and, in some cases, led them to the wrong airport.

“We believe that Oakland intentionally designed their new rename to divert those who were unfamiliar with Bay Area geography, and also is trying to mislead the public in suggesting that Oakland might have a business relationship with SFO, which it does not,” Chiu told KQED at the time.

Simon pushed back on the assertion, saying the decision wasn’t intended to stoke confusion, but to improve marketing for the airport.

“Really, we were not seeing a significant amount of confusion happening whatsoever,” he said. “The intent of this is to really get our airline partners to put more operations and more flights into Oakland and get us the ability to have more flights that stick going towards the East Coast.”

A district judge awarded San Francisco a preliminary injunction in November, which requires Oakland to halt its name change until a trial is held. Right now, that’s scheduled for next August.

The Port of Oakland has filed an appeal to San Francisco’s suit, and Simon said he’s confident the original name change doesn’t infringe on San Francisco’s trademark.

“In the meantime, however, the port needs to implement a new name for OAK while we wait for final legal resolution,” he said.

Chiu’s office said in a statement it was just learning about the development, and would assess any steps necessary to protect SFO’s trademark.

Oakland officials say the new name responds to concerns in the court’s injunction by removing the entirety of SFO’s name and reordering the title not to lead with “San Francisco.”

“This really puts Oakland first and increases the already immense economic value that the airport brings to the region,” Simon told KQED.