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Apple Legal Filing Cites Fear of 'Inferior' Amazon Appstore Tarnishing its Reputation

Friday June 10, 2011 12:55 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
The trademark dispute between Apple and Amazon over the term "App Store" continues to play out, with Computerworld noting that a new filing by Apple clarifies the company's stance that it fears a tarnishing of its reputation by association with the "inferior" Amazon Appstore for Android.
In a filing on Wednesday, Apple countered Amazon's claim that "app store" is a generic label, and repeated its demand that the court issue a preliminary injunction barring Amazon from using the similar "appstore" to market its Android app download center.

"Amazon mischaracterizes Apple's tarnishment claim," Apple said in the June 8 reply to an earlier Amazon filing. "Apple has not asserted that the Android operating system is inferior. Rather, Apple has asserted that Amazon's service is inferior and will tarnish Apple's mark."
In its filing, Apple also expresses concern over the Amazon Appstore's offering of apps that bypass security mechanisms built into the Android platform, as well as a number of cases of malicious or pirated apps that have appeared in Android app marketplaces. Apple fears that having the word "app store" associated with such types of applications will tarnish the reputation of Apple's relatively tightly-regulated App Store.

Apple has also taken the opportunity to point to Amazon's new Mac download store as an example of how Amazon can offer application download services without using the "app store" term.

Apple has been trying since July 2008 to have the U.S. Patent and Trademark Organization grant its trademark application for the "App Store" term. In the process, Apple has reached out to companies it believes are infringing on the mark, as would be required for a granted trademark lest it become considered a generic term and thus unprotect-able. Microsoft has been leading the fight to have Apple's trademark application denied, arguing that the term is too generic in the first place to receive trademark protection.

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chrono1081
107 months ago
Sorry Apple, I can't back you on this one and I don't think others will either.
Rating: 14 Votes
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sined13
107 months ago
Apple's arrogance has no boundaries.
Rating: 14 Votes
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wordoflife
107 months ago
Inferior Appstore? That's pushing it, Apple. Wow.

And no one cares what you call your Appstore/Marketplace/download center. We just care about the applications.
Rating: 12 Votes
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Mr Fusion
107 months ago
... So Apple's worried about the tarnishing of their "tightly regulated" reputation?

...

;)
Rating: 6 Votes
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Goldinboy17
107 months ago
Really?
That's all I've got to say.
Rating: 4 Votes
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ECUpirate44
107 months ago
"Inferior app store" OUCH!
Rating: 4 Votes
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kenliles
107 months ago
App Store was clearly a term associated with Apple's application store, first termed by them, marketed by them, and broadly accepted as referring to it's success. App Store does not associate with Amazon or any other store. IMO Apple is correct;

There is a clear reason Amazon named it such. In my view Amazon is the leach here...
Rating: 4 Votes
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lilo777
107 months ago

Apple has dealt with inferior competition for a while now. Windows and Android come to mind. I think they just jump to conclusions about the competition too easily now; especially with the lawsuit in play. Amazon's products are not inferior. I like the kindle and Amazon's cloud service is fine. Amazon should come up with a new name for their store though.


Could you explain how "inferior" competitors manage to beat Apple so handily?
Rating: 4 Votes
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Doctor Q
107 months ago
I'll be surprised if Apple wins this court battle. I consider the phrase "app store" to be merely descriptive, not a brand name, and I think this cat is already out of the bag.
Rating: 4 Votes
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wirelessness
107 months ago
How stupid does Apple think its consumers are? Do they really think anyone is stupid enough to confuse the Apple App Store with the Android App Store and then somehow blame Apple for this....?

'Oh, Apple sucks!!! This Amazon App Store is total garbage it's offering me an Adobe Flash Plug-in, why in the world would I want something like that?'
Rating: 4 Votes

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