Palm Beach County commissioners approved a trademark deal with one of Donald Trump’s family companies to rename the county’s airport after the president in a 4-3 vote Tuesday, with one Democrat backing the plan.
The agreement gives Trump extra power over how his name is used in the airport rebranding, including giving him veto power over how his image and biographical information is used in marketing materials. It also requires airport stores to source airport-branded merchandise from retailers Trump’s companies choose.
All three Republicans on the Palm Beach County Commission backed the agreement during a vote Tuesday, as did Democrat Maria Sachs. Trump already signed the deal on Sunday.
Democratic commissioners Gregg Weiss, Joel Flores and Bobby Powell Jr. voted against the agreement, primarily citing concerns that they didn’t have enough time to review the agreement since they had just received it on Monday.
They were also apprehensive about the fact that there is no termination clause in the agreement, and the county has no way out of it unless there is a change in state law.
Theirvote comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law in late March forcing the name change, but hinging it on a requirement that the county approve a trademark deal with Trump’s companies.
The company that manages Trump’s trademarks, DTTM Operations LLC, applied for the trademarks for “Donald J. Trump International Airport” and “President Donald J. Trump International Airport” in February. The latter name is what appears in the proposed new logo for the airport.
The approved agreement resembles typical trademark agreements in many ways, according to trademark attorney Josh Gerben. But it also has some unusual elements that could leave the door open for the Trump family to benefit, even as the Trump Organization has promised not to profit from the taxpayer-funded changes.
READ MORE: Inside Palm Beach County’s newly signed Trump trademark deal for airport renaming
The agreement is non-exclusive, meaning the Trump family could still profit from selling airport-branded items offsite, according to Gerben, even though they’ve promised not to profit from sales at the airport. Trump’s company also gets to make a list of “approved retailers” from which airport stores have to buy their airport-branded merchandise.
Source: Drudge Report
