Nothing moves the memory market quicker than FUD - Andrew Norwood, Dataquest
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Apple denies that 'app store' is a generic term
FRUIT THEMED GADGET MARKETER Apple is continuing to fight its corner over the use of the term 'App Store' and is still arguing that it is not a generic term.
App maybe generic by now, and we are all used to the concept of a store, but put the two together and you'll get the attention of the cappuccino company's lawyers.
Amazon has already had a visit and argued that the term is generic, which meant that Apple had to come up with a reason why it is not.
"Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words 'app store' together denote a store for apps," said the company in a recent filing in a California federal court.
Apple sued Amazon over its use of the term back in March, having already sent it three cease and desist letters. These, presumably, were filed somewhere other than with the legal department, as the bookseller went right ahead and used the term, albeit as 'Appstore'.
Jobs' Mob believes that the use of the term is confusing and must imagine that its IOS users will somehow wander into the mean streets of Amazon's Android store and try and download its apps onto their Iphones. This defies logic, but it keeps lawyers busy.
The term has been approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office, but separately, Microsoft has opposed this and asked for a re-examination, which could be fatal for Apple's court case if the trademark approval is reversed. µ
Tags: Software
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My use of the word app in relation to portable devices was using the PortableApps suite from PortableApps.com that many still use today.
So while the PortableApps team might not have been silly enough to think they could patent two generic words together they might have a claim against Apple for stealing the idea of a place for downloading individual apps for use in a controlled environment, an app store if you will! :)
Before Apple opened their App Store, who knew of or used that term? Has it even existed before? So IMO they do have a point here.
However the App Store is a store that sells apps, so the name does come naturally for others like Amazon.
But I bet you half the reason why Amazon is calling their store "App Store" is to have the same name as Apple's, just for recognizability.
When someone sees an "App Store" on their new phone, there is a chance they will think "that's where I can buy Apps". Instead of when they see "Market" and think they can do their grocery shopping there.
*gasp* I do have a sense of humor! I was just commenting that Ratty must not read The Inquirer much, otherwise he would see several other creative inserts; ATI+AMD=DAMMIT and others. :3
I have also been reading through the legal documents submitted and I must say that Apple dug themselves into a hole with this one. Whatever defensive position they had they shot away with paragraph 9 in their "Answer to Counterclaim". Everyone else is wrong and we are right! um, yeah...
I do appreciate that the judge is refusing to let Apple prejudice or bully the case.
Sorry Apple, but I dont see much of a chance of winning this one now...
They can claim it's not a generic term all they want but it doesn't make it true.
Also do you two have no sense of humor. It's a joke about the trendy nature of Apple customers who are willing to over pay for tech in much the same way they're willing to over pay for the morning cappucino they have to have in order to feel they look cool.
You dont read The Inq very much, do you?
Autocorrect fail? Were you aiming for Cupertino Company?