A two-year trademark fight between California cities ended Tuesday when the Port of Oakland and San Francisco announced a settlement allowing Oakland’s airport to retain its current name under strict marketing rules.
The airport will officially remain Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, a name the port adopted in July 2025 after a federal court blocked an earlier version. The settlement resolves San Francisco’s trademark lawsuit, Oakland’s counterclaim, and a Ninth Circuit appeal. No money changed hands.
The central restriction is a prominence rule: San Francisco may never appear larger, bolder, or in a different color than Oakland in any display or marketing material. Oakland is also barred from purchasing online keywords such as San Francisco Airport. The word International is excluded from the official name despite the facility operating international flights, and Oakland’s IATA code OAK stays unchanged.
The dispute began in April 2024 when port officials renamed the airport, arguing travelers unfamiliar with Bay Area geography defaulted to San Francisco’s larger hub. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction. Oakland appealed and in mid-2025 reordered the name to put Oakland first. City Attorney David Chiu called the outcome a resolution that met Oakland’s goals while protecting the SFO trademark. SFO Director Mike Nakornkhet said the agreement helps travelers make clearer choices between the two airports, which sit about 30 miles apart.
The case resonates at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, code GSP, in Greer, South Carolina. GSP has built its dual-city name into a durable competitive strength: the Airport Council International named it the best small airport in North America four of the last five years. The airport handles close to three million passengers annually on 29 nonstop routes, up from 1.2 million in 2009. Leadership projects roughly $500 million in infrastructure investment over the next five years. As airports compete harder for passengers and cargo, the California case is a concrete reminder that regional airport names carry trademark weight — and that cities will go to federal court to protect them.
