DTTM Operations is a private entity that manages Trump’s intellectual property, trademarks, and likeness on merchandise (think: calendars, clocks, and sweatshirts with his face). Today, the Delaware-based LLC protects over 130 trademark names, including Trump Organization, Mar-a-Lago, the Trump Card, Official Team Trump, and Trump National Golf Club.
Last week, attorney Michael Santucci on behalf of DTTM Operations filed paperwork at a courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to earn federal trademark protection for three more names: President Donald J. Trump International Airport, Donald J. Trump International Airport, and DJT.
The filing comes just weeks after the administration put out a call for architects to redesign Virginia’s Dulles International Airport. Zaha Hadid Architects and Bermello Ajamil & Partners were among the firms that submitted proposals to RFP.
Trump has expressed interest in renaming Dulles International Airport after himself. He also said he hopes to have Florida’s Palm Beach International Airport, which he frequents to reach Mar-a-Lago, renamed in his honor.
On January 13, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, proposed legislation that would “prohibit the naming of federal buildings after sitting presidents.”
The bill is called the Stop Executive Renaming for Vanity and Ego (SERVE) Act and is aimed at stopping Trump from renaming buildings, like airports, after himself. It has no language about trademarking.
“Completely Unprecedented”
Santucci applied for protections based on an “intent to use” basis, the sort of filing that happens before names are used for commercial purposes. For trademark attorney Josh Gerben, the recent filings are “completely unprecedented.”
Public entities, like airport authorities, typically file for trademark name protections with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for public buildings, not private entities like DTTM, Gerben said.
“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,” Gerben added, before affirming: “Airport names almost always originate from the governmental body that owns or manages the facility. They are not owned or licensed by privately held entities.”
Gerben elaborated that the filing creates a “structural question,” in that if, say, Dulles were to be renamed after Trump, would the airport “need to license that name from Trump’s private company?”
“In most licensing arrangements,” Gerben continued, “the trademark owner must charge a licensing fee and maintain quality control over how the mark is used. That would set up an interesting agreement from Trump’s private company and any airport authority that adopts the name.”
Whether or not the applications “mature into registrations will depend entirely on use,” Gerben said. “Without a functioning airport operating under the name, the marks will not register. This is because US trademark law requires a trademark to be ‘in use in commerce before it can be registered.’”
In other words, Trump needs an airport before he can name an airport. Additionally, filing for a trademark could permit the use of the names on branded merchandise, something DTTM Operations could cash in on.
To date Trump has already added his to name to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Institute of Peace is now the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
Trump has likewise expressed interest in naming the forthcoming Washington Commanders stadium, designed by HKS, after himself.
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