confusion Archives

Battle of the Bay: It’s Oakland Airport, Not San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport

by Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. | Dec 5, 2024 | Trademarks

The US District Court for the Northern District of California granted the city and county of San Francisco a preliminary injunction enjoining the Port of Oakland from using the name or trademark “San Francisco Bay Oakland Airport” based on the strength of San Francisco’s mark and the proximity of goods and services. City and County of San Francisco v. City of Oakland, Case No. 3:24-cv-02311-TSH (N.D. Cal. Nov. 12, 2024) (Hixson, J.)

The city and county of San Francisco own a registered trademark for the SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT covering airport services. The Port of Oakland owns the OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT mark, also covering airport services. Based on a research study, the Port of Oakland contended that there was a lack of awareness among tourists visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, that Oakland is located in the Bay Area. The Port of Oakland notified San Francisco of its intent to rename its airport the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. San Francisco objected to the name change as confusingly similar to its trademark. San Francisco sued Oakland and the Port of Oakland for trademark infringement, unfair competition/false designation of origin, and common law trademark infringement. San Francisco also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction (PI) to prevent the Port of Oakland from using the name.

Ruling on the PI motion, the district court started with whether the Port’s use of “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport” was likely to cause confusion. Courts in the Ninth Circuit evaluate likelihood of confusion using the nonexhaustive Sleekcraft factors (9th Cir. 1979), which include the following:

Strength of the mark.
Proximity of the goods.
Similarity of the marks.
Evidence of actual confusion.
Marketing channels used.
Type of goods and the degree of care likely to be exercised by the purchaser.
Defendant’s intent in selecting the mark.
Likelihood of expansion of the product lines.

San Francisco offered several theories supporting likelihood of confusion. San Francisco argued that the new name implied an affiliation, connection, or association between the Oakland airport (OAK) and the San Francisco airport (SFO). San Francisco also argued that the new name would cause customers to confuse OAK with SFO and cause customers to buy tickets to the wrong airport, which constituted point-of-sale and initial interest confusion.

Addressing the strength of the mark, the district court determined that although San Francisco’s trademark was descriptive, it was commercially strong. The SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT is widely known among travelers and appears on signs in and around the airport. San Francisco has used its trademark for decades and invests millions of dollars annually to promote the SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT trademark. The court found that San Francisco’s brand was routinely ranked among the top 25 airport brands.

In terms of the proximity of the goods, the district court found that the services were identical, as both names were used in connection with an airport and related services.

Turning to the similarity of the marks, the [...]

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On the Border of Art and Trademark: First Amendment Trumps the Lanham Act

by Anisa Noorassa | Dec 8, 2022 | Trademarks

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit weighed trademark rights against free speech considerations and found that the First Amendment protected use of an artistic work that was not deliberately misleading. MGFB Properties Inc. et al. v. 495 Productions Holdings LLC et al., Case No. 21-13458 (11th Cir. Nov. 29, 2022) (Luck, Brasher, Hull, JJ.) (Brasher, J., concurring).

The suit was brought by MGFB Properties, Flora-Bama Management and Flora-Bama Old S.A.L.T.S. (collectively, the plaintiffs). The plaintiffs own and operate the Flora-Bama Lounge, Package and Oyster Bar on the Florida-Alabama border. The lounge has been in business since 1964 and is well known in the region. The plaintiffs registered their trademark FLORA-BAMA in 2013.

Viacom and 495 Productions (collectively, the defendants) produce reality television series, such as the hit 2009 series Jersey Shore. In light of Jersey Shore’s success, the defendants produced several spinoffs. In 2016 the defendants decided to develop a new spinoff based on “southern beach culture” and chose the term “Floribama” to describe “relaxing Florida beaches with the down-home Southern vibe of Alabama.” The defendants were aware of the name’s connection to the Florabama Lounge but used the term regardless to identify a specific stretch of the Gulf Coast (the Florida and Alabama coasts) and inserted dialogue into the show to explain the term. The show’s logo emphasized its connection to the Jersey Shore franchise:

The plaintiffs argued that the defendants’ use of “Floribama” was a violation of the Lanham Act and caused unfair confusion and damage to their brand. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants. Plaintiffs appealed.

The Eleventh Circuit upheld the district court’s judgment that the defendants’ First Amendment rights as the creators of an artistic work outweighed the plaintiffs’ interest in their trademark and in avoiding confusion around their brand: “[c]reative works of artistic expression are firmly ensconced within the protections of the First Amendment.” In reaching its outcome, the Court applied the 1989 Rogers v. Grimaldi test.

Under the first prong of the Rogers test, “an artistically expressive use of a trademark will not violate the Lanham Act unless the use of the mark has no artistic relevance to the underlying work whatsoever.” Here, the Eleventh Circuit found that the defendants’ use of the term “Floribama” to describe the geographic area featured in Floribama Shore and the subculture of that region satisfied the first element of the Rogers test. The Court held that it was sufficient for the defendants’ use of “Floribama” to be relevant to their show, even if the term was not “necessary” to production of the show.

Under the second prong of the Rogers test, the Eleventh Circuit found that the defendants’ use of “Floribama” was not explicitly misleading “as to the source or content of the work” such [...]

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Déjà vu Decision on Likelihood of Confusion

by Amol Parikh | May 19, 2022 | Trademarks

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a trademark suit that was essentially identical to a previous lawsuit that was dismissed based on a finding of lack of confusion. Springboards to Education, Inc. v. Pharr San Juan Alamo Independent School District, Case No. 21-40336 (5th Cir. May 10, 2022) (Willett, Engelhardt, Wilson, JJ.)

Springboards sells products to school districts in connection with its “Read a Million Words Campaign.” The campaign builds excitement around reading by incentivizing school children to read books through promises of induction into the Millionaire’s Reading Club and access to rewards, such as t-shirts, backpacks and fake money. Springboards’ goods may typically bear any combination of trademarks that it registered with the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO), including “Read a Million Words,” “Million Dollar Reader,” “Millionaire Reader” and “Millionaire’s Reading Club.”

Pharr San Juan Alamo (PSJA) is a public school district in Hidalgo County, Texas. Springboards sued PSJA in 2016 in federal court, alleging trademark infringement based on the school district’s use of “millionaire”-themed reading incentive programs allegedly “using products and services bearing marks and branding identical to or confusingly similar to Springboards’ marks.” While the case was pending, the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in Springboards to Education, Inc. v. Houston Independent School District, where it found that another public school district’s summer reading program did not infringe Springboards’ trademarks. Observing the parallels between the Houston case and the PSJA case, the district court granted PSJA’s motion for summary judgment that it did not infringe any of Springboards’ trademarks. Springboards appealed.

Calling it “déjà vu all over again,” the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s finding that PSJA’s use of Springboards’ marks was not likely to cause confusion. The Court explained that distinguishing between Springboards’ catalog of “millionaire”-themed goods and unaffiliated “millionaire”-themed goods that other educational entities have elected to deploy is not difficult, and unique imprints on “millionaire”-themed reading challenges are widespread in the educational field. The Court noted that as in Houston, Springboards did not allege that PSJA itself is in the business of competing with Springboards by selling its own “millionaire”-themed products to the school districts that make up Springboards’ customer base. The Court thus concluded that PSJA’s use of a million-word reaching challenge did not confuse and was not intended to confuse the sophisticated school districts that Springboards targets with its marks.

Springboards tried to distinguish the Houston case by arguing that the Houston school district had one summer reading program whereas PSJA has had several year-long reading programs and that the requirements of PSJA’s reading program are identical—and not merely similar to—Springboards’ model program. Springboards also noted that its founder worked his entire career in Hildago County (where PSJA is located) and visited schools, teachers and administrators in the district—unlike Houston, which was over 300 miles away. The Court found that these facts did not move the needle, in light of its finding that sophisticated school district customers can [...]

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