Apple wants it to be very clear that they own the words “App” and “Store” when used in conjunction. It’s been noted that Apple has amended their active lawsuit against Amazon to include advertising of the new Kindle Fire device, in which the phrase “Amazon Appstore” is clearly referenced.
It’s being claimed that Apple, having thrown the terms “app” and “app store” into the spotlight with the launch of the iOS App Store, is the rightful owner of these phrases, though merely making something popular doesn’t protect you from others using it. Apple has a long road ahead of them trying to convince a court that “app” isn’t a generic term.
The filed amendment from Apple claims that Amazon deliberately changed the name “Amazon Appstore for Android” to a simpler “Amazon Appstore” to confuse potential Apple iOS customers into thinking that the devices operate the same. This is a fact that Apple gladly refutes by pointing out how inferior Amazon’s offerings are currently and they aren’t pulling any punches as you can see in the excerpt below.
This deception is likely to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions about Amazon’s service and products, thereby diverting revenues from Apple to Amazon. Amazon’s use is also likely to lessen the goodwill associated with Apple’s APP STORE service and Apple products designed to utilize Apple’s APP STORE service by associating Apple’s APP STORE service with the inferior qualities of Amazon’s service.
Attacking publicly the quality of Amazon’s service seems like a bold move. Opinion based statements in legal documents have been the source of numerous lawsuits in the past, and sticking to the facts is usually the best practice. Or, has it actually been proven fact that Amazon < Apple?
Source: PaidContent
Via: TUAW
