Jetstar Virtual Airline Sues Qantas Over Trademark Infringement

Virtual airline JetStar International Airlines has announced plans to sue real world airline Qantas for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, etc. due to Qantas' opening of their new low cost division named "Jetstar". The Qantas announcement has resulted in the virtual airline being deluged with ticket requests, resumes, etc. intended for the real airline. For full details, click on Read More.

On Dec 1, 2003 Qantas Airways Ltd announced the launch of their new low cost carrier named "Jetstar." Unfortunately for Qantas, the name JetStar' used in conjunction with the airline industry was an already legally trademarked brand by JetStar International Airlines.

Beginning at least four years ago, JetStar International Airlines, was the first and only company ever to use the trademark "JetStar" in conjunction with an airline or air carrier of any kind, and have enjoyed a peaceful and productive time with their superior trademark and domain.

Quoting JetStar's CEO Gene Bordelon, "When I formed this virtual airline four years ago, I went to great lengths naming and branding it so uniquely that the odds would be remote in the extreme that it would ever be exactly copied, unintentionally or coincidentally to avoid any copyright problems." He continued by stating "It's unbelievable that Qantas could come up with the same name, essentially the same logo design, and substantially the same silver livery as ours by chance. Even our domain name clearly states who and what we are. I knew when I named the airline 'JetStar' it along with our signature livery would be a very powerful and recognizable trademark brand. Qantas and their ad agency obviously also recognized this."

The website operated by JetStar International Airlines caters to the airline simulation industry. JetStar Airlines has received many accolades for their unique fleet and website design, and prior to the December 1 decision by Qantas, JetStar's website was the highest and only return for 'JetStar Airlines' on every general search engine such as Google.com, among others for three years running.

Today, things are different. JetStar Airlines has been sidetracked by the recent onslaught of thousands of unwanted requests for plane tickets from the Qantas/Jetstar.au promotions. "It's really all about confusion in the marketplace of which there is plenty." Recently Qantas offered 100,000 seats for $29 each causing a stampede of millions of customers to their website. Virgin Blue also joined in causing a price war. On the same day, JetStar International received more than 100,000 unwanted visits to their website and were flooded with email requests, including requests for the cheap tickets from confused customers, resumes from potential employees, aircraft and aircraft parts suppliers and even car rental agencies requests for business. The unprecedented traffic to our site nearly crashed it. This continues even today increasing our bandwidth costs. The confusion continues with several virtual Jetstar copies now online and one even officially sanctioned by Qantas!

"We tried to call their attention to this problem several times, but their response is nothing short of reckless because they don't seem to mind trampling on other's intellectual property rights even though Qantas asks you to respect their rights on their terms of use pages located on their websites. Qantas' cavalier attitude left us no choice but to take the matter to court to protect our intellectual property," says Bordelon. The lawsuit filed in United States District Court lists causes of actions as, Copyright Infringement, Trademark Infringement, Illegal Cybersquatting, Conversion and Lanham Act Unfair Competition.

Qantas operates several routes to the United States and has significant involvement in the United States travel and transportation industry, offering a wide range of services to both American citizens and other citizens worldwide.