Apple’s not too impressed with Amazon’s use of the phrase App Store in the name of their Appstore for Android service. Apple made a move back in March to force Amazon to stop using it, but Amazon fought back, claiming App Store was generic and un-trademarkable.
The fight has been ongoing. Amazon says that App Store is a general use term, and Apple thinks Amazon’s daft for thinking that. Okay, they didn’t come right out and call the thought daft, but they might as well have at this point.
“Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words ‘app store’ together denote a store for apps” said Apple’s legal team in a filing yesterday in a federal court in Oakland, California.
Listen, patenting things like “App Store” is stupid to begin with, but precedents have been set, and Apple has been quick to point out that both Google, and Android have avoided the use of the term App Store for their application marketplaces. Google uses the term Android Market, and Microsoft officially uses the phrasing Windows Marketplace; neither Google, nor Microsoft use App Store to define their application stores.
Clearly App Store belongs to Apple, even Wikipedia says it’s true, and we don’t question the veracity of Wikipedia around here.
Article Via TechCrunch
