The City of San Francisco has now filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in its case against the Port of Oakland over the name change of Oakland Airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.

While a lawsuit filed in April by San Francisco against the Port of Oakland over the name change is ongoing, the City is now seeking an immediate halt to the use of the name San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, saying it is causing unnecessary confusion for travelers.

San Francisco International Airport officials confirmed earlier this month that they had evidence of traveler confusion, including travelers who had tickets out of Oakland but ended up taking rideshares to SFO instead. And now SF City Attorney David Chiu is seeking an immediate injunction from a judge to protect the city's trademark of the name San Francisco International Airport.

"We are already seeing traveler confusion around the use of Oakland’s new name,” Chiu said in a statement. “This was entirely predictable and preventable."

Chiu continues, "We tried to reason with Oakland officials to avoid litigation and come up with alternative names that would work for all of us. Unfortunately, those efforts were not productive, and we have no choice but to ask the court to step in and protect our trademark. San Francisco has invested millions in making San Francisco International Airport the world class airport it is today. We have built an incredible brand that we must protect. Oakland has a trademark for Oakland International Airport. It should use that and stay away from San Francisco’s brand."

The board of directors of the Port of Oakland voted earlier this year to change the airport's name because, they say, not enough travelers understand Oakland's proximity to the Bay, and they are losing market share because of it.

But an environmental group that has been fighting against the Port's plans to expand the airport say that the name change is a desperate attempt to take market share from San Francisco because of the ongoing expansion plans — and because passenger traffic through the airport has declined since the pandemic, calling the expansion plan into question.

"We have observed multiple incidents of customer confusion resulting from Oakland Airport’s rebranding," said SFO Airport Director Ivar C. Satero in a statement. “We thank the City Attorney’s Office for taking this action to prevent further customer disservice at both airports."

The SF City Attorney's Office says that it was only informed of the Port of Oakland's plans for the name change 30 minutes before it was announced publicly back in April.

"The renaming appeared to be intentionally designed to capitalize on SFO’s trademark and divert travelers who may be unfamiliar with Bay Area geography and lead them to believe OAK has a business relationship or affiliation with SFO, which it does not," the City Attorney's Office says in a release.

It's worth noting that another airport, in Stockton, tried to do this a few years ago, renaming itself San Francisco-Stockton Regional Airport, and SF shut that down pretty quickly.

We should see soon how this all shakes out.

Previously: At Least a Few Airline Passengers Are Getting Confused About Oakland Airport Name Change, Showing Up at SFO