Regular readers know that the currently-named Metropolitan Oakland International Airport is a sponsor of the Friday Cranky Weekly Review. It also was the presenting sponsor of this year’s Cranky Network Awards. So when I saw that the airport was proposing to change its name, I decided not to write about it… until San Francisco threatened to sue over the switch. Now I just can’t stay away. Someone pass the popcorn, please.
Oakland’s idea was simple enough. It said last week that it wants to change its name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. This is a mouthful, and let’s be honest… nobody is going to call it that. It will always be Oakland or OAK.
The point, however, is to attract more traffic heading to San Francisco itself. This will help it show up better in web searches, though it doesn’t achieve the holy grail that Ontario somehow achieved when people search for LAX. If you search for SFO, Oakland results do not return. That is a different fight that has nothing to do with the name but would probably be far more impactful.
But Oakland did a lot of research on this and it got its airlines onboard with the shift. Having San Francisco Bay up front will help improve recognition among those people looking to come to San Francisco. So the airport pushed forward, deciding at least for now to keep the logo the same. It just throws in some extra words on the left, still prominently showing OAK most above all.
The reality of the situation is that no traveler in the Bay Area will care about this name change one bit, or at least they shouldn’t. They all know their airports, and know the ones they prefer. This is entirely about people coming into town who aren’t familiar with the region. And they would probably be pleasantly surprised if they landed in Oakland instead of SFO.
See, SFO isn’t in San Francisco. It lies further south of the city, fed by traffic-choked freeways that dead-end in southern parts of San Francisco, dumping into crowded streets. Oakland lies across the bay and actually has its main runway sitting in the bay itself on what I assume is landfill. It does require taking the Bay Bridge over to San Francisco which is always an adventure, usually not in a good way. But both airports are located on BART rapid transit. Depending upon where you’re going in the city, OAK can often be quicker.
OAK was also built in a location that doesn’t see the same impact from fog as SFO. Even if it did, OAK doesn’t have its runways so close together that they become heavily impacted by low clouds. OAK generally runs on time while SFO has more than its share of weather delays that have wreaked havoc on travelers for years.
With that background, you can see how they came up with this name. But you know who doesn’t feel good about it? San Francisco. Almost immediately, the threat of lawsuits began to fly, saying Oakland was infringing on San Francisco International Airport’s trademark.
This seems insane on the surface. After all, the OAK runway literally sits on top of the San Francisco Bay. Geographic names are what they are, and there have been far worse abuses. That being said, my gut reaction is not based in law. And the law… may say otherwise.
The San Francisco Chronicle talked to some experts in this field, and while it sounds like this could go either way, there is a real argument to be made by SFO that this is trademark infringement. After all, San Francisco International Airport is trademarked, and that means that San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport could cause confusion in the marketplace. Maybe.
The article talked about examples in Florida where Orlando Sanford and Orlando Melbourne tried to make a run at using the Orlando name. Sanford has apparently been denied a federal trademark while Melbourne finally gave up and changed its name to Melbourne Orlando after years of litigation.
Some suggested OAK might have more solid legal footing if it could change its names around and put Oakland first to make it more clear. That does not appear to be in the cards as of now. This week the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the change with strong backing. And May 9 is when the official sign-off should be given.
Let’s see if San Francisco really wants to litigate this or if it’s just rattling sabers to see what it can get. It seems awfully silly to fight this, but it’s a lot of fun to watch.
