Last month, Rats in a Sack reported how Donald Trump, not satisfied with naming the US’s premier cultural centre, a road near his private club, a proposed new class of Navy warships, a visa initiative for affluent foreign nationals, a government-run prescription drug website and federal savings accounts for children all after himself, had set his sights (literally) higher.
In February, Trump filed three trademark applications that would reserve his name for use as the brand of an airport. All three were filed on what is known as an “intent to use” basis. This is a strategy which allows applicants to stake a claim to a name before it is used in commerce.
The applications, submitted by DTTM Operations LLC on February 13 and 14, sought federal protection for the names “President Donald J Trump International Airport”, “Donald J Trump International Airport” and “DJT”.
And now, just six weeks on, the carrot-coloured Caligula is getting just what he wanted: Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, has just signed a saying that Palm Beach International Airport is being renamed the President Donald J Trump International Airport in his honour!
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A formal request must now be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration, which then must process the change in various flight charting and navigation databases, and the airport signs must be changed. But last week, representative Brian Mast presciently introduced legislation to change the airport’s three-letter code from PBI to DJT, Trump’s initials.
And even more presciently, the applications filed last month mean that if DTTM Operations – Trump’s private intellectual property holding company which owns a vast portfolio of trademarks spanning hotels, residential towers and a range of licensed consumer products – will now need to license the mark to that authority, no doubt charging a whopping fee. Ker-ching!
The news comes just as the US Treasury said that US paper currency will bear Trump’s signature starting from this summer, the first time a sitting president has signed American money.
Still, the president still has some way to go. Saparmurat Niyazov, dictator of Turkmenistan from 1991 to 2006, had a penchant for naming things after himself and his family, including rebranding January after himself, April after his mother and September after his favourite book. How long until the US has months named Donald, Mary and Theartofthedeal?
