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A federal judge ruled Thursday that Hawaii interisland carrier go! cannot rebrand itself as Aloha Airlines.

In his ruling, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King wrote that Yucaipa Co. of California, the former majority owner of Aloha Airlines, cannot bid for rights to Aloha’s intellectual property.

Yucaipa had arranged to license those rights to go!’s parent company, Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group (Nasdaq: MESA), for $6 million over 10 years.

But King blamed Mesa for forcing Aloha out of business on March 31, 2008, and said it would be unreasonable for Mesa to now take over the Aloha brand.

“Mesa succeeded in inflicting great harm, not only upon Aloha corporate entities but also upon thousands of Aloha employees and families,” King wrote. “It is difficult to imagine a court overlooking what Mesa has done and putting its stamp of approval on Mesa’s subsidiary, go!, becoming Aloha.”

Go! entered the Hawaii market in June 2006, instigating a fierce fare war between go!, Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines (owned by Hawaiian Holdings, (Nasdaq: HA), the state’s top carrier.

Paul Skellon, go!’s top executive in Hawaii, declined to comment.

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"Mesa succeeded in inflicting great harm, not only upon Aloha corporate entities but also upon thousands of Aloha employees and families,” King wrote. “It is difficult to imagine a court overlooking what Mesa has done and putting its stamp of approval on Mesa’s subsidiary, go!, becoming Aloha."

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