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.
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Bloomberg reports that Apple has filed new papers with a federal court in Oakland, California stating that Amazon's Appstore for Android...
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I posted this someplace else (can't remember where) but my take on this is that if Microsoft can trademark generic terms like Windows, Word and Office then Apple should be allowed to use App Store.
Does anyone really think that Amazon is battling this out in court because of some noble cause to keep generic names safe from big companies? Of course not! They understand the purchasing power and brand name recognition of the name/term App Store. They know Apple will never drop the name; they have too much invested so Amazon can just ride the coattails of Apple by using the same name.
If it was easy for Microsoft and Google to come up with other names then Amazon could easily do the same. Mobile Marketplace, Amazon Bazar, Amazon Emporium, whatever. But no, they want "appstore" because they understand the leverage of that name.
MR Blue, you took the main argument from my keyboard - but allow me to add: If Microsoft can block Lindows because it sounds too much like windows, and then block lin- (pronounced lindash) because it too infringed on Windows... well call your representative and get serious reform for copyrights (throw patents in there if you would). Until then, this is the corporate environment that we've made for ourselves get used to it.
May 22 2011 at 5:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyBeing the first to use a term doesn't mean it's unique enough to be trademarked.
The term "app" has become universal PURELY because it's the most obvious and logical shortened version of "application." If they called it AppleApps or MobApps or something even remotely unique they'd have a case.
My guess is the judge denies Apple's claim, it's just too generic to be enforceable.
The word "application" has been around for at least 30 years in common use for computers.
Yet the term "app" was not used. In fact, when Apple first started talking about Apps the word sounded as wrong and absurd as the term "iPad" sounded originally.
This is the mark of a trademark-- it is a new word, and new terms often sound absurd when they are first coined.
"App" is synonymous with Apple products due to the fact that on Apple devices software packages are referred to as "applications" and they transfered the same name to iOS devices, whereas on a PC they are referred to as "programmes" or "programs".
Google have also always called their individual pieces of software "applications" so I presume they and anyone else (amazon) who sells applications for the Android platform should be able to use the term "app" as after all it's just a shortening of the word "application".
Microsoft however should stick to their roots and use the term "prog store", however that of course sounds terrible so they obviously want to jump on the "app" band wagon because it sounds cooler!
"App" and "Application" are different words. You made an argument about "Applications" and then proceeded as if you'd made the argument about the word "App".
Application is a generic term, no doubt.
This is why Apple started using the word "App", which if you'll notice shares the first three letters with the word "Apple".
gweedo, I like your thinking.
May 22 2011 at 4:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply@the pl4gue I don't think that makes them a bunch of dumb, greedy assholes, I think they are trying to make a business decision...
To be honest, I think the term is pretty generic as well, but hey, Apple can definitely fight to keep it.
being ethically bankrupt is not good and just because they are an artificial entity (corporation) does not mean it's right
May 21 2011 at 12:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyApple, as good as the products they make are, are a bunch of dumb, greedy assholes. This whole trying to say "App Store" is generic and fighting over it somehow reminds me of Sony and Geohot.
I think 2011 is really going to be a year where companies try to sue everyone and everything to claim things for themselves, all while looking bad/pissing off the customers.
It doesn't look bad to me when Apple tries to protect their trademarks and innovations.
Lets be honest-- Apple is the only company out there actually coming up with new things.
The problem is that so many other companies are able to just rip off apple and get away with it, that they have no incentive to innovate.
Apple isn't being greedy, they are just defending what is rightfully theirs.
I think the people who steal (and those who advocate they steal, or worse, accuse apple of being evil because it defends itself from theft) are the real assholes.
Give up already. As soon as the big man talked about other app stores in his keynote they blew any chance of claiming it's not a generic term
May 21 2011 at 3:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis is not true. A slip of the tongue does not give up trademark rights. In the past Steve Jobs has talked about other MP3 players and called them "iPods" accidentally. He has also talked about other phones and used the word "iPhone" accidentally.
That doesn't make either of those terms generic.
Just look at Canon, Nikon, Sigma and Tamron with the technology to eliminate minor vibrations from your hand movements affecting the final image:
Image stabalizer
Vibration Reduction
Optical Stabilizer
Vibration Control
I don't see a problem here...
Note a more zoomed in graph (like http://www.google.com/trends?q=app+store&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2008&sort=0) that the frequency of the search term "app store" actually started going up *before* Apple announced their iPhone app store. This is because there was public demand for such a feature (and described by such a name) before Apple actually launched their store. Apple kind of ganked the name from the zeitgeist.
May 21 2011 at 12:52 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down ReplyThe posts to google trends prove Apple created the term "App".
The term started being searched in the months before the App Store went public, true, and that is because apple announced the App Store well before the App Store came into being. They made a public announcement about native apps, and talked about the App Store then and called it the App Store... and then for several months developers worked on Apps to go in the App Store.
Apple coined the term, and Apple has the right to trademark it.
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