Two US corporate juggernauts are set to go head-to-head in a Georgia courtroom in an explosive lawsuit in which Delta Air Lines has accused Marriott International of wilfully infringing its name and logo to expand its Delta Hotels brand.
The legal dispute has been quietly rumbling along for more than five years, but now the two sides will soon face off in court, with Delta Air Lines demanding millions of dollars in compensation and damages from Marriott.
In a bombshell legal complaint, Delta Air Lines says it desperately tried to make Marriott “see reason,” but that the hotel chain’s plan all along was to “barrel ahead” with the expansion of its Delta Hotels brand despite the Atlanta-based carrier’s objections.
“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.”
Original complaint filed against Marriott International
The origins of the dispute date back to 2015, when Marriott bought Canada’s Delta Hotels Brand in a $134 million deal. At the time, Delta Hotels was Canada’s largest full-service hotel chain, but Marriott had much bigger plans for its new brand.
Rather than simply operating Delta Hotels in Canada, Marriott decided that it would aggressively expand the brand into the United States and further afield.
Delta Air Lines argues that Marriott had a calculated plan to build the Delta Hotels brand by trading off its goodwill and brand reputation.
For example, the airline says that shortly after the acquisition, Marriott dropped the old Delta Hotels logo with a cursive ‘D’ and serif font for a plain sans serif font in a dark blue color that mimicked the Delta Air Lines logo.
The alleged connection with the airline did not, however, stop there. According to Delta Air Lines, the hotel chain then started to position its Delta Hotels brand at numerous airport locations and targeted marketing at air travelers – a deliberate ploy, the lawsuit alleges, to “sow confusion.”
“Upon information and belief, a central reason that Marriott acquired the Canadian Delta Hotel chain was to leverage the DHLP acquisition to trade off Delta’s famous Delta Marks and consumer recognition.”
Original complaint filed against Marriott International
According to Delta Air Lines, the possibility of confusion that Delta Hotels was connected with the airline was far more than theoretical.
The lawsuit alleges that real customers were led to believe that Delta Hotels was owned by, affiliated with, or sponsored by the airline. In some cases, customers thought they might earn Delta SkyMiles frequent flyer points by staying at a Delta Hotels property, while the airline says it was even approached by the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company seeking a partnership with the hotel chain.
What’s more, Marriott has allegedly gone on a global trademark offensive, registering its sole use of the Delta brand in multiple territories and opposing several trademark applications by the airline.
“Marriott has also embarked on a campaign to interfere with Delta’s trademark rights in a misguided attempt to create leverage and force Delta to agree to Marriott’s expansion plans.”
Original complaint filed against Marriott International
Delta Air Lines originally filed its lawsuit against Marriott in March 2020, so the legal dispute flew under the radar for a long time as the world concentrated on the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the background, however, the two sides have been squabbling for the past five years, and the dispute is no closer to being resolved. Now, the parties are preparing for the case to go to trial.
In preparation for the court battle, Marriott International filed its pre-trial brief earlier this month, although its version of events has been sealed by the court because Marriott says it contains commercially sensitive information that, if made public, could be harmful to its business.
Delta Air Lines wants treble damages for trademark infringement, along with punitive damages, although an exact monetary compensation figure has not yet been set.
The case has been filed under case number: 1:20-cv-01125
Many wondered why it took Delta Air Lines this long to slam Marriott for infringement. Not being clairvoyant nor an attorney, if I were on the jury, I’d see within 10 seconds that the hotel chain either willingly chose to “associate” their brand with the airline or refused to acknowledge the similarity. The Delta Air Lines logo and brand have been around much longer than the hotel. Whatcha bet that Delta Air Lines will prevail and Marriott (already sucking wind with its lousy customer service and hotels) will pay the airline a hefty penalty?