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is the name of an airport such as LAX the act of the FAA or the ICAO? from reading, it looks as though the process starts at the ICAO as a recommendation, then is adopted by the FAA?

jimmy
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  • How it gets *assigned* and who, for trademark rights and etc, *owns* it, are probably very different things. The former question, about ICAO & the FAA, is on-topic here; anything about trademark rights & other "ownership" questions, isn't. Please rephrase your question to be more specific about what you are asking. – Ralph J Jul 01 '19 at 21:26
  • I have always heard the 4 letter codes referred to as "ICAO Identifiers". Obviously the FAA has an interest in mirroring this standard. Not sure what you mean by who "owns" them, or what that might even entail... – Michael Hall Jul 01 '19 at 21:41
  • i was looking to have some tshirts printed for my airport workers and wanted to tastefully incorporate the airport code in the design. being savvy in tm and copyright, im looking to make sure the naming is a federal process. and if so, the name could never be trademarked or copyrighted. – jimmy Jul 01 '19 at 21:48
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    The 3-letter codes are IATA id's. ICAO codes are 4-letter and in the US are all K plus the IATA code (such as KLAX). For international airports that stuff is all done according to the Chicago convention. The copyright implications are probably better for law.se., but I doubt the codes themselves are copyrightable. Airport logos and such would be though. – TomMcW Jul 01 '19 at 22:04
  • It is certainly not a private, commercial trademark. I would feel confident doing what you plan. – Michael Hall Jul 01 '19 at 22:08
  • On the other hand, specific marketing slogans incorporating the codes do exist. For example "I [airplane] OAK" for Oakland International . A large airport may not take well to employees creating their own slogans, as you may inadvertently deny them future use of the slogan in an exclusive manner. – crasic Jul 01 '19 at 22:21
  • You might want to look at What is the methodology for assigning airport codes? Trademarks are of course not discussed there, but the assignment is. – Bianfable Jul 02 '19 at 06:36
  • I suggest going to law.stackexchange.com and posting a new question: "Are there any potential legal issues with printing airport codes on T-shirts?" You need people who know about trademark law, not people who know about aviation; and you need to ask what you actually want to know (are there any potential legal issues) instead of a tangentially related question (who "owns" the codes). – Tanner Swett Jul 02 '19 at 10:33

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4-letter names are too trivial to be protected by copyright. Trademark protections require 1) specific applications, 2) commercial usage, 3) that the offending use is relatable enough to the original business to dilute the trademark or harm the business.

(Thus, for instance, an "Airbus" car would be a clear a trademark violation, for a model plane called "Airbus A320" some agreement is preferred just to be safe, and for a book titled "Airbus A320" no communication with Airbus is needed, as it does not compete with any Airbus product, nor does such a title on a book imply being one.)

IATA and ICAO codes amount to nothing more than telephone numbers. They cannot be copyrighted, since they represent abstract concepts rather than a creative expression of one, and they aren't trademarked.

More than that is a question for Law.SE.

Therac
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