San Francisco and the Port of Oakland settled a trademark lawsuit over the Oakland airport’s name, which will remain the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, the two cities announced on April 28.

In March 2024, the Port of Oakland, which owns and operates the airport, renamed the Oakland International Airport to the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, saying the airport had trouble securing nonstop flights because of its name.

A preliminary injunction prevented the port from using the name, which Oakland appealed. The Port later renamed the airport a second time to the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, which it is allowed to continue using.

“When more visitors come to the Bay Area, our entire region benefits. San Francisco cares deeply about the success of all of our Bay Area airports and tourist destinations,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said.

“We are pleased that we could come to a mutual resolution that accomplishes Oakland’s goals while still protecting the San Francisco International Airport trademark.”

The Port of Oakland originally said that the airport’s location is not well known outside of the San Francisco Bay Area and that it has faced challenges from how search results are organized.

San Francisco objected to the name change and filed a lawsuit against the port and city of Oakland in April 2024 for trademark infringement.

“It is extremely rare for a major U.S. airport to bear the name of a different city than the one that owns it,” Melissa Andretta, director of aviation marketing and development at San Francisco International Airport, said. “By adopting the trademark ‘San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport,’ Oakland is trading on our goodwill and brand recognition, leading travelers to believe that our airports are the same or related to one another.”

She said any issues travelers have with Oakland’s airport will be mistakenly attributed to San Francisco, San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and the San Francisco International Airport Brand, and that the new name for the Oakland airport will cause customers to confuse it with SFO and buy tickets for the wrong airport.

“Oakland has much lower customer satisfaction than SFO,” Andretta said. “Travelers who mistakenly believe that SFO and the Oakland airport are controlled by the same city or management are now associating Oakland’s lesser services with ours.”

This settlement says Oakland’s airport cannot use “San Francisco” more prominently than “Oakland” in any displays or marketing materials, and the Port agreed to not add “SF” to its IATA code, which is currently “OAK.”

“We are grateful to have reached a resolution in this matter,” San Francisco International Airport Director Mike Nakornkhet said. “This agreement provides clarity for travelers to make informed decisions about travel through our respective airports.”