Trump Organization Trademarks ‘Trump International Airport’ Just in Case, Citing Protection Against ‘Bad Actors’

The Trump Organization has reportedly taken steps to reserve the president’s name for potential airport branding, filing three trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. According to the filings, the company is seeking exclusive rights to the names “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” “President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” and the acronym “DJT.” The applications cover the use of these names for airports as well as related merchandise and services, ranging from passenger shuttles and flight suits to umbrellas.The filings were made through DTTM Operations LLC, a Delaware-incorporated entity managed by the organization.The trademarks were first reported by Josh Gerben, founder of the trademark law firm Gerben IP. Mr. Gerben noted in a blog post the unique nature of a private company seeking to trademark a public infrastructure name.“While presidents and public officials have had landmarks named in their honor, a sitting president’s private company has never in the history of the United States sought trademark rights in advance of such naming,” Mr. Gerben wrote. “These are trademark filings that are completely unprecedented.”The filings arrive amid legislative efforts in Florida to rename the Palm Beach International Airport after the president. While trademarking a name often implies an intent to monetize, the Trump Organization explicitly denied that it will be seeking financial gain from the Florida project.“To be clear, the President and his family will not receive any royalty, licensing fee, or financial consideration whatsoever from the proposed [Palm Beach] airport renaming,” said the director of executive operations and communications at the Trump Organization, Kimberly Benza, Forbes reported.She added that Mr. Trump “is, and always has been, willing to provide this right to his hometown county at no charge.”Ms. Benza said that the applications were filed “in order to protect the name for Palm Beach County and the State of Florida, thus preventing bad actors from infringing upon or misusing the name,” claiming that the Trump name is the “most infringed trademark in the world.”However, Mr. Gerben raised questions about the strategy.“Why is a private entity filing for trademarks when, normally, a municipality would be the one filing and protecting the trademark? What’s the motivation here? Those are fair questions to ask,” Mr. Gerben told Forbes. He noted that one potential reason for filing “is certainly the ability to monetize the trademark.”For years, Mr. Trump has expressed a desire to have an airport named after him. Discussions regarding the renaming of Washington’s Dulles Airport surfaced recently, with Mr. Trump claiming the idea “was suggested to me by numerous people, unions, Democrats, Republicans, a lot of people suggested. Nothing’s been done on that.”Reports also indicate Mr. Trump previously suggested unfreezing infrastructure funding if Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to rename Dulles and New York City’s Penn Station after him — a deal Mr. Schumer rejected.

Trump Organization Trademarks ‘Trump International Airport’ Just in Case, Citing Protection Against ‘Bad Actors’

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