Apple: Amazon's Appstore isn't an 'app store'

Bloomberg reports that Apple has filed new papers with a federal court in Oakland, California stating that Amazon's Appstore for Android can't possibly be an "app store." According to the filing, "Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words 'app store' together denote a store for apps. The term isn't commonly used by businesses to describe download services and, because the mark 'app store' isn't generic, Amazon's Appstore for Android service isn't an 'app store'."

Since earlier this year, both Amazon and Microsoft have been hoping to overturn Apple's "app store" trademark. Both companies contend the term is too generic. Recently, the fight over the trademark has extended to Europe as well. There are many arguments for and against the term's generic nature, but perhaps the most positive evidence in Apple's holding of the term is John Paczkowski's Google trend line showing that the "app store" phrase didn't enter the vernacular until 2008 -- which was about the time that Apple began popularizing it.