Airport Name Change Ruling Appealed

OAKLAND, CA — The Port of Oakland is appealing a court ruling that temporarily blocks it from using its new airport name, San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.

The port on Thursday filed a notice challenging the Nov. 12 ruling in U.S. District Court that blocked the new name in advertising, marketing or other airport services until a pending trial resolves a lawsuit between Oakland and San Francisco.

The port maintains that Oakland's airport is the closest major airport to 58 percent of the Bay Area and sits alongside San Francisco Bay. Travelers deserve "adequate choices among airports in the same metro region that are allowed to compete on a level playing field," the port said in a news release Thursday.

After the port approved the name change earlier this year, San Francisco's city attorney asked in September for a preliminary injunction to halt use of the new name, saying it infringed on their trademark for San Francisco International Airport and confused travelers.

In November, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson sided with San Francisco, saying that it is likely to prevail in the pending court case on the claim that the name change "falsely implies affiliation, connection and association" between the two airports, which go by the three-letter codes of SFO and OAK.

Port officials, however, said San Francisco is trying to "stifle competition and travel choices" for Bay Area travelers.

"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," Port of Oakland Attorney Mary Richardson said Thursday in a news release.

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