Apple Sues Amazon Over 'App Store' Trademark

Monday March 21, 2011 5:37 pm PDT by Arnold Kim

Bloomberg reports that Apple has sued Amazon over the use of the term "App Store". Apple filed the complaint on March 18th and is asking for a court order to prevent Amazon from using the "App Store" name.

"Amazon has begun improperly using Apple's App Store mark in connection with Amazon's mobile software developer program," Apple said in the complaint. Amazon also plans to use the name with a mobile software download service, the complaint states.

Amazon is introducing its own marketplace for Android apps and has called it the Amazon Appstore.

Apple originally applied for the "App Store" trademark in 2008 and finally got approval in 2010. Microsoft has been opposed to the mark claiming it is a generic term -- a position that Apple has argued against. Apple claims to have contacted Amazon three times demanding that they change their name, but Amazon has yet to provide a "substantive response". Trademark owners are expected to defend their trademarks against infringement in order to avoid becoming a generic term.

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Macinthetosh
115 months ago

The issue is here is that Apple has a trademark on the term "App Store". Just like Microsoft has a trademark on Windows. Even if they are generic terms being trademarked make it illegal for other companies to use them.


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