Forget sports. The hottest Bay Area feud is over Oakland airport’s name
For decades, the competition between the “City by the Bay” and its more down-to-earth neighbor centered on the region’s dueling professional football and Major League Baseball franchises. But with the Raiders fleeing Oakland and the Athletics poised to follow suit, the two cities apparently needed something new to quarrel over.
San Francisco on Tuesday asked a federal judge for a preliminary injunction to prohibit the airport in Oakland from using its newly chosen and all-encompassing moniker, San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. Notwithstanding the new name, the East Bay airport maintains its same OAK airport code and the “I Fly OAK” logo, and its runways continue to hug the east side of San Francisco Bay.
San Francisco alleges in court filings that the airport’s new name amounts to trademark infringement, is confusing for travelers and is an ill-concealed attempt to attract San Francisco International Airport’s customers.
“Although the Oakland airport services many of the same Bay Area travelers as SFO, it receives far fewer of them,” attorneys for San Francisco wrote in the court document. “What better way to attract new customers, service providers, and airlines than by adopting a copycat brand?”
