DELTA SUES MARRIOTT FOR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT OVER DELTA HOTELS
Atlanta, GA – Earlier this month (March 2020), Delta Airlines filed suit against Marriott International for trademark infringement and dilution over Marriott’s use of DELTA trademarks as part of its U.S. expansion of it’s Canadian Delta Hotel chain. In court documents, Delta claims that “Marriott has embarked upon a calculated strategy of not only gratuitously using the name DELTA for its DELTA HOTELS chain of hotels in the United States, but also has adopted a sans-serif font and dark blue color scheme for its DELTA HOTELS business that closely mimics the font and color scheme used by Delta” (see photo). Delta further claims that Marriott has opened numerous “airport hotels” under the Delta Hotels name and is marketing that brand to airline travelers leading consumers to believe that the hotel chain is somehow associated with Delta Airlines.
Delta claims to be the leading airline in the world by total revenue, serving 200 million people every day. Delta also claims to be a leader in related travel services such as hotel bookings, credit card rewards programs, and hospitality services. Delta also partners with other companies in virtually every industry, including hotels, credit card providers, entertainment venues and stadiums, sports teams and charitable organizations. According to Kantar, in its 2020 BrandZ report on the Top 100 Most Valuable US Brands, Delta’ Airlines’ DELTA brand is among the 100 most valuable brands in the United States. In its complaint, Delta frames the dispute broadly as one involving the “travel industry” as opposed to airlines and hotels.
Marriott acquired the Delta Hotel chain, which had previously operated only in Canada, in 2015. After the purchase, Marriott began expanding the Delta Hotel chain into the United States. Marriott also made significant changes to the design of it’s logos – adopting a sans serf font, dispensing with a stylized, curling “D” design in favor of a straight “D” design, and changing to a darker blue color. Delta claims that all of these changes were intentionally designed to make the Delta Hotel marks much closer to the Delta Airlines marks, almost guaranteeing confusion when the Delta Hotels began operating in the United States. Since the purchase in 2015, Marriott has also opposed registration of several DELTA marks filed by Delta Airlines with the United States Trademark Office. Those oppositions continue to work their way through the system. Marriott has also filed over 70 applications around the world to register “DELTA” as a trademark on its own. All of this indicates that Marriott is taking a very aggressive approach to expansion of what to most in the United States is probably a previously unknown hotel chain brand.
Without the benefit of seeing Marriott’s answer to the complaint (it’s not due yet), it is difficult to understand what Marriott is thinking with its rapid and aggressive expansion of the Delta Hotel brand. With a multitude of other hotel brands under its umbrella, from Ritz Carlton and St. Regis to Fairfield and Townplace Suites, surely there is an existing U.S. branded hotel that aligns with the level of service provided by Delta Hotels in Canada. Marriott will almost certainly spend tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees defending this suit, and if it loses, it could be rebrand, pay damages and possibly attorney fees to Delta. It will be interesting to see how Delta responds to the complaint.
Has someone misappropriated your brand? Are you starting out with a new business, venture, product or service and want to have some assurances that you won’t have to rebrand later due to an unseen infringement? We are here to help. Contact us to see how we can give you the peace of mind you deserve before you move forward.
