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San Francisco has settled a two-year legal fight with its neighbour across the Bay that will allow the city of Oakland to include “San Francisco” in its airport’s name — as long as it doesn’t highlight the two words in any way.
The settlement announced Tuesday allows Oakland’s airport to be called “Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport,” but it bars the city from highlighting “San Francisco” or “San Francisco Bay” in fonts, highlights, different colours or any other way. It also requires Oakland to use the word “Bay” right after “San Francisco,” and it bans from using the word “International,” even though the city does provide international flights.
The spat began in 2024 after Oakland, a diverse port city often seen as the underdog in the Bay Area compared to its richer neighbour to the West, changed its airport’s name to “San Francisco-Oakland Bay Airport,” prompting San Francisco officials to sue over what they said was a trademark violation.
Oakland officials said the name modification was necessary to help travellers unfamiliar with the region to locate the city in the Bay Area. They said visitors often fly into San Francisco’s airport even if their destination is closer to the Oakland airport across the bay. The airport’s three-letter code OAK did not change.
“We’re proud Oakland fought for and preserved the right to retain our airport’s full name that puts Oakland first and recognizes OAK’s location on the San Francisco Bay,” Mary Richardson, attorney for the Port of Oakland, which manages the airport, said in a statement.
San Francisco argued having “San Francisco” in Oakland’s airport name would confuse travellers, especially those flying in from abroad and those unfamiliar with the Bay Area. But on Tuesday, San Francisco officials had a friendlier tone.
“We are grateful to have reached a resolution in this matter,” San Francisco International Airport Director Mike Nakornkhet said. “This agreement provides clarity for travellers to make informed decisions about travel through our respective airports.”
Neither side admitted liability, and there was no monetary settlement.
Oakland’s airport is about 20 kilometres east of San Francisco and about 48 kilometres from San Francisco International Airport, or SFO.
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