Airline name question

[Filippo]

Hi, just a question,

Is it possible to use the name of a real life bankrupt airline?

Like Pan Am, or TWA, or Aloha Airlines, or Hooters Air

Thank-you

[Sami]

Only if they are not owned by anyone as trademarks anymore. Which is unlikely.

[Filippo]

how do you know if they are still owned. Do you have to go on the internet and see if there is another airline/company using the name?

[swiftus27]

Pan Am still operates flight schools....

[freshmore]

wasn't TWA bought by another airline which means tht airline will own the trademarks.

[schro]

how do you know if they are still owned. Do you have to go on the internet and see if there is another airline/company using the name?

There's about a 95% chance that they're still owned by somebody. Here's a few examples:

ATA is owned by Southwest, who purchased the carcass of them for LGA slots, thus, they own the name as well.
Piedmont is owned by USAir (they merged), and the name lives on as a regional airline name.
Eastern Air Lines is owned by (I think) USA3000, who is considering a relaunch of Eastern Air Lines branded service
TWA was bought by American...
Aloha... hmm.. I think was purchased by Mesa as part of their Go! initiative, though, I think that was blocked by the court
Hooters Air never went bankrupt persay - the flights were flown by Pace Airlines and branded as Hooters Air. When the Hooters founder died, the airline was shut down.  In unrelated news, Pace is pretty much a goner at this point thanks to a scoundrel.

The list can go on and on - chances are, there's still a trademark owner of any airline name that you've seen out there, and any use of that puts the folks at AirwaySim in a position of legal liability.

[tofen]

You can use this site to find most US registered trademarks: http://tess2.uspto.gov/
Edit: Since this game is based in Europe, this site might be better: http://oami.europa.eu/CTMOnline/RequestManager/en_SearchBasic_NoReg
It's not the easiest to find, but if you find something listed as "Live", then it's probably still registered. I checked the ones "schoro" posted just for fun:

ATA is still owned by ATA Airlines, Inc.*
Piedmont Airlines is indeed owned by US Airways, Inc. Corporation
Eastern Air Lines seems to be owned by Aviation Capital Partners Group LLC
TWA and Trans World Airlines is indeed both owned by American Airlines, Inc.
Aloha Airlines is still owned by Aloha Airlines, Inc.*
Hooters Air is owned by HI Limited Partnership Hooters Enterprises L.L.C. (Probably a Hooters holding company, since they also own the "Hooters" name)


*ATA and Aloha is probably not completely liquidated yet, so there names remains registered to them during the process.

[Filippo]

Is Southern Airways still owned?

[tofen]

Is Southern Airways still owned?

Everything connected to Southern Airways seems to be expired.
However, Southern Air still exist (the cargo airline), not sure if that would be close enough to course any trouble.

[ArthurWellesley]

There are oodles of other businesses and such named Piedmont, just not Piedmont Airlines.  For example, Piedmont/Hawthorne does a lot of aircraft fueling, but then there are places like Piedmont Natural Gas.  I live in the area that Piedmont was based in, and the region is called the Piedmont Triad, it's the name of the region.  Could I not, therefore, have an airline called Air Piedmont or Piedmont International, etc.?

[Filippo]

Everything connected to Southern Airways seems to be expired.
However, Southern Air still exist (the cargo airline), not sure if that would be close enough to course any trouble.

So, can I use the name Southern Airways with their logo in AWS without it being against the terms of service and copyright laws?