The Kitty Hawk Flyer. Photo: Rhamelin

Let's call it the Battle of Kittyhawk(s).

San Francisco-based startup Kittyhawk.io Inc., which sells software to program and control drone flight, has filed a trademark lawsuit against Kitty Hawk Corp., a flying car startup based in Mountain View backed by Alphabet Inc. CEO Larry Page.

“As could be expected, two cutting edge San Francisco Bay Area drone aircraft-related companies using the same distinctive name is generating widespread confusion in the marketplace, with both companies' potential customers, business partners, investors, and employees, as well as press outlets and Kittyhawk's own customer base repeatedly confusing the two companies,” wrote Kittyhawk.io's lawyers at Winston & Strawn in a 14-page complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “The ongoing confusion is seriously undermining the value and strength of Kittyhawk's brand and its ability to promote itself in the marketplace,” Kittyhawk wrote.

A representative of defendant Kitty Hawk Corp. said in an email statement the company was “disappointed” and “would have hoped to resolve the matter amicably.”

“We intend to strongly defend our position,” she said.

According to the complaint, Kittyhawk.io was founded in 2015 by Jon Hegranes and Joshua Ziering and has developed a platform of mobile apps and desktop tools that customers can use to check airspace rules and weather conditions, manage drone flight, and collect video and store data from flights, including images and video. According to Kittyhawk, it's platform has been used by energy companies to inspect pipelines and tanks, by major insurers including The Travelers Companies Inc. to assess properties that have been impacted by catastrophic events, and by law enforcement to monitor events impacting public safety. Earlier this year the company announced a partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration to provide the agency's first mobile app for drone operators. The company has a pending U.S. Trademark Application filed in July 2018 to use the Kittyhawk mark for “software, namely, downloadable and non-downloadable software used to program and control drones.”

The lawsuit claims that Kitty Hawk Corp. changed its name from Zee.Aero Inc. in October 2017 and that it had “actual and constructive” knowledge of Kittyhawk.io's prior use of the mark.

“Defendant's trade name and mark is identical to Kittyhawk's aurally, and the only visual difference in the two names is a space between the words 'Kitty' and 'hawk,' although defendant at times does not include the space between the two words,” the drone company's Winston & Strawn lawyers wrote. The company is asking for unspecified damages and for Kitty Hawk to be barred from using the name on confusingly similarly products.