Trump’s Private Company Files Trademark for ‘President Donald J. Trump International Airport’
The private company that controls President Trump’s intellectual property portfolio has filed three trademark applications that would reserve his name for use as the brand of an airport.
The applications, submitted by DTTM Operations LLC on February 13 and 14, seek federal protection for the names:
All three applications were filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on what is known as an “intent to use” basis. This is a filing strategy that allows applicants to stake a claim to a name before it is used in commerce.
The filings came amid media reports suggesting that Mr. Trump had expressed interest in renaming major airports after himself, including Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia and Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.
From a legal perspective, the applications were drafted and filed as though the names would be used in connection with an airport. It is a type of filing typically submitted by a public airport authority. Airports are ordinarily owned and operated by governmental entities, and their names, when registered, are generally held by those authorities.
DTTM Operations, however, is Mr. Trump’s private intellectual property holding company. It owns a vast portfolio of trademarks associated with the Trump brand, spanning hotels, residential towers, and a range of licensed consumer products.
Beyond airport services, the trademark filings also claim rights for a range of branded merchandise, including clothing, handbags, luggage, jewelry, watches, and tie clips. Such filings suggest that any airport bearing Mr. Trump’s name could be accompanied by a broader licensing program associated with merchandise.
The move raises unusual questions about the intersection of public infrastructure and private brand ownership. 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.
Because these trademarks have been filed, if an airport authority were to adopt the name ‘President Donald J. Trump International Airport,’ DTTM Operations would now need to license the mark to that authority, potentially charging a licensing fee (or accepting some other form of consideration).
I should be very clear: these are trademark filings that are completely unprecedented.
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.
Here, the filings were made by DTTM Operations LLC, the same entity that protects the Trump brand across hotels, consumer goods, and licensing ventures. That fact alone signals that this is not merely about honorary naming. It is about brand control.
The broader goods listed in the applications, such as clothing, luggage, and watches, are equally telling. Those categories are classic merchandise plays. If an airport were renamed, the trademark filings would allow DTTM Operations to control and monetize branded merchandise associated with the location.
It also creates a structural question: if a publicly owned airport were to adopt the name, would it need to license that name from Trump’s private company? In most licensing arrangements, 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 these applications mature into registrations will depend entirely on use. 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.
For now, we can only sit back and ponder the significance of a sitting President filing a trademark application with his own intellectual property office to protect the name of an airport he is pressuring politicians to rename.
Josh Gerben, Esq.
Josh Gerben, Esq. is a nationally recognized trademark attorney and the founder of Gerben IP. Since launching the firm in 2008, he has overseen the registration of over 10,000 trademarks and handled over 1,500 trademark disputes. Josh's practice focuses on building and defending global trademark portfolios for clients. These clients include entrepreneurs, private equity-backed businesses, athletes, celebrities, and public companies. Frequently quoted by major media outlets like CNBC, CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, Josh is widely regarded as a leading authority in trademark law.
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