Trump company seeks to trademark his name on airports
As Florida legislators consider renaming Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago estate sits nearby, a company associated with the Trump family recently filed paperwork to trademark Trump's name for use in that manner -- raising the possibility that Trump may try to profit from the renaming efforts.
Publicly available records show that DTTM Operations, a company associated with the Trump Organization, filed trademark applications for "President Donald J. Trump International Airport" and "Donald J. Trump International Airport" on Feb. 13.
A Trump Organization spokesperson said that Trump was not seeking to profit from the move.
Trump Organization spokesperson Kimberly Banza told ABC News that the trademark applications were intended to prevent "bad actors from infringing upon or misusing the name."
"To be clear, the President and his family will not receive any royalty, licensing fee, or financial consideration whatsoever from the proposed airport renaming," Banza said.
Critics, however, say the move underscores the broader perception by some that President Trump is more interested in his own financial interests than pursuing the best course of action for the country.
"Under the status quo, the public cannot discern whether President Trump's decisions are guided by the public interest or his own personal profit," said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, director of government affairs at the nonprofit watchdog Project on Government Oversight. "Even if Trump's business doesn't profit off of this specific move, the continued operation of Trump's family business while he is in office makes it crystal clear that the president must be bound by conflict-of-interest laws."
Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer who first spotted the filings over the weekend, wrote in his blog that while about a dozen other presidents have earned name recognition at airports, these trademark applications appeared to be the first of their kind.
"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 wrote on his blog. "These are trademark filings that are completely unprecedented."
Gerben also said the move raises the question of whether a publicly owned airport would need to license the name from Trump’s private company should it want to use it.
Earlier this week, the GOP-controlled Florida legislature moved to rename the Palm Beach International Airport after Trump, who sources said has also expressed an interest in having Washington's Dulles Airport and New York City's Penn Station named after him, which Trump later denied.
