Apple Sues Amazon Over 'App Store' Trademark

[AwakenedLands]

It's actually technically a "Servicemark", not a "Trademark".

Apple App Store
App Store

Apple has to enforce their servicemark or they will lose it. My opinion is the first servicemark should have been awarded to them, but not the second one. In any case both are servicemarked for "Online Store" use.

I think the people awarding these servicemarks are merely rubberstamps with no ability to reason. Apple also has the following as servicemarks:

An Introduction to Color
An Introduction to Motion

Wow.

 

[AppleScruff1]

This is from a company that stole the Beatles trademark.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Google Trends Charts for "App Store":

Link: to "App Store" over 2000-2011, Emphasis on what happened in '08

Also, from 1980-2011


And for the guy trying to date back to 1600...App Store from 1600-2011

You do know that you posting that image of google searches HURTS your argument instead of helps it.

No one is arguing that Ap store became popular when Apple started using it but it does prove that it was a widely used term before hand. App stores were around before Apple. There was the Palm one that was called something like Hanggo App Store (sorry not a big palm person here but I know people have talked about it here on the board)
I know of a few Windows Mobile App Stores from 2006 had the name APP store in them (2 years prior to Apple's App Store)

 

[gatearray]

This is from a company that stole the Beatles trademark.

Apple Computer sold computers at the time, Apple Records sold record albums...

The App Store sells mobile applications. The Amazon AppStore sells mobile applications. See what I did there?

 

[thelonelylimo]

RIM saved themselves with "Blackberry App World". It seems as if Amazon tried to be slick with dropping the space. The outcome of this case will be interesting in my opinion.

 

[Roofy.]

Since 2008, the term app store has indeed become more generic. Good luck fighting this Apple. It's the way it is now.

But if they have it trademarked then how could they not win?

isnt a trademark a little more important than these "patent" lawsuits?

 

[rjohnstone]

Apple doesn't own the trademark yet.
It's still in the opposition phase.

This means their suit against Amazon is posturing at this point and Amazon has no legal requirement to respond or suspend the use of the term.
A judge will simply suspend the case until the USPTO has made their determination.


If you read through the application, Apple filed for a quicky trademark in Trinidad and Tobago in 3/2008 so they could claim priority in processing for the US filing which they didn't file until 4 months later.

This bumped Metro PCS, who also filed a trademark claim for the @Metro App Store trademark. That application is still live, but suspended pending the outcome of the Apple filing.

And if you look further through the USPTO archives, there were registration for the term Appstore (all one word) filed as far back as 2000 (Sage Networks - 75542841) and 2006 (Salesforce.com - 78907865).

Again... tell me how Apple owns this term?

 

[hglk]

Macintosh = apples
Mac = Macintosh

Mac != apples
Mac =Apple

Does that make sense?

Kinda almost the same thing going on here right?

 

[NeverhadaPC]

The problem lies with the trademark commission and patent offices... "app store" should never have been a trademark in the first place... Apple is just being a for-profit entity and maximizing profits by squashing competition... not nice, but neither is business.

If A.G. Bell invented the phone today, he would be able to trademark the word "phone."

 

[Dr McKay]

I remember an article a few weeks back, that Apples arguement was

"App doesnt stand for Application, it stands for Apple"

Microsoft attack the font size in Apples App Store brief

 

[MattInOz]

In other news, Apple sues everyone for eating the fruit or drinking the juice.

Umm... Unless the company selling the Apples was called Appstore or iPod or another well known Apple trademark then your pretty safe with those apples.

Even then the Company would be sued by Apple not the general fruit consumers.

 

[Ping Guo]

So how is 'Windows' not a generic term?

Using Windows is applying a name for something else entirely to MS software - the concept of "windows" has nothing inherently to do with the software, thus a novel use. Application, on the other hand, is a completely generic term for consumer software. There is no novel usage being employed. So, yeah, it's different.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I remember an article a few weeks back, that Apples arguement was

"App doesnt stand for Application, it stands for Apple"

Microsoft attack the font size in Apples App Store brief

yeah and I think everyone knows that Apple is full of it in trying that argument and I bet any judge would throw it out.

 

[gco212]

It's actually technically a "Servicemark", not a "Trademark".

Apple App Store
App Store

Apple has to enforce their servicemark or they will lose it. My opinion is the first servicemark should have been awarded to them, but not the second one. In any case both are servicemarked for "Online Store" use.

I think the people awarding these servicemarks are merely rubberstamps with no ability to reason. Apple also has the following as servicemarks:

An Introduction to Color
An Introduction to Motion

Wow.

A servicemark is just a form of trademark. A square is still a rectangle, just as a servicemark is just a trademark.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

You do know that you posting that image of google searches HURTS your argument instead of helps it.

No one is arguing that Ap store became popular when Apple started using it but it does prove that it was a widely used term before hand. App stores were around before Apple. There was the Palm one that was called something like Hanggo App Store (sorry not a big palm person here but I know people have talked about it here on the board)
I know of a few Windows Mobile App Stores from 2006 had the name APP store in them (2 years prior to Apple's App Store)

Good companies would have applied to own the name. They didn't. Along came a good company that did apply to own the name and notice the graph shows how a company with good business sense can make a name like App become common. So no the graph does not hurt his argument in the context of Apple's application to own the name.

I guess if the other companies thought they had a chance at being successful with their "app stores" they would have applied to own the name too.

 

[DoofenshmirtzEI]

You do know that you posting that image of google searches HURTS your argument instead of helps it.

Not true. That search would pick up any document that had the words "app" and "store" in it, not just instances of "app store".

 

[Cartaphilus]

It's a shame that basic legal concepts and principles aren't taught in the schools. IP rights aren't always indisputable, but the basic principles of IP law certainly are. I think people would appreciate the general good sense and fairness of the law if its study were a part of general education.

As important as the law is to so much of personal and commercial life, it's regrettable that otherwise knowledgeable and intelligent people have such difficulty in productively discussing public issues based on legal controversies.

 

[jmstark]

Amazon should change it to "Amazon Application Store" and see what happens next.

What about "Applet Store" for Android Applications? I had assumed from the launch onwards that Apple had called their application store the "App Store" because their applications/executables have the extension .app (whether they be Mac or iOS applications). I never saw it as an abbreviation. So for Windows it would be the "Exe Store" and Android would be the "Apk Store" (yeah not so nice). After all, EXE Magazine was all about Windows software.

The confusion between applications on different platforms is a real one. Just look at what is printed on Windows software boxes. If it doesn't say anything, it has to be assumed to be a Windows application. If it does say, it is either "PC" for a Windows application or "PC/Mac" if both Windows and Mac OS are supported. Why was the generic term "PC" in this instance allowed to be used when Mac OS and Linux based machines are also Personal Computers. These terms should have been "Windows" or "Windows/Mac".

 

[Musocat]

Good....

No one ever said the word "app" until Apple's App Store...

That's right. Until Apple came along, they were called programs. The folder in Windows is Program Files; the folder on Macs is Applications.

Amazon should prepare to die.

 

[gco212]

What about "Applet Store" for Android Applications? I had assumed from the launch onwards that Apple had called their application store the "App Store" because their applications/executables have the extension .app (whether they be Mac or iOS applications). I never saw it as an abbreviation. So for Windows it would be the "Exe Store" and Android would be the "Apk Store" (yeah not so nice). After all, EXE Magazine was all about Windows software.

The confusion between applications on different platforms is a real one. Just look at what is printed on Windows software boxes. If it doesn't say anything, it has to be assumed to be a Windows application. If it does say, it is either "PC" for a Windows application or "PC/Mac" if both Windows and Mac OS are supported. Why was the generic term "PC" in this instance allowed to be used when Mac OS and Linux based machines are also Personal Computers. These terms should have been "Windows" or "Windows/Mac".

Apple's App store has never used .app as an extention.

 

[dejo]

Not true. That search would pick up any document that had the words "app" and "store" in it, not just instances of "app store".

True. Here's the proper search:

 

[jmstark]

Using Windows is applying a name for something else entirely to MS software - the concept of "windows" has nothing inherently to do with the software, thus a novel use. Application, on the other hand, is a completely generic term for consumer software. There is no novel usage being employed. So, yeah, it's different.

Not true. Both Xerox and Apple used the term Windows to mean rectangles on the screen used to display user content before Microsoft first used the term for its new DOS application (which later became an operating system). So windows is inherently to do with the software and to something that was invented by Xerox (and not by Microsoft). The problem was that Xerox did not copyright the names Windows, Icons, Mouse or Pointer even though they were the inventors of the WIMP interface.

 

[optophobia]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Hmm.. Brings back memories of when Apple Inc was sued by Apple records. As a result of the lawsuit Apple Inc promised not to sell music......

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Look people have to start understanding the difference between trademarking something and patenting it. If a technique or invention has been known to exist you can't patent it. But if a phrase or slogan has been used but has not permeated the culture to be well known and common then it can be trademarked. I say it can be but of course it can be argued how commonly used the phrase already is. But I'm just saying that because a phrase, name or slogan can be shown to have been used previously does not exclude it from being subject to a trademark. For anyone who thinks otherwise i have one thing to say:

Let's get ready to rumble!​

 

[Mr. Gates]

What a load of crap !

Like ford trademarking the term "Automobile" after making the model-T ...

Shut up Apple and play nice.

Trademark "Shoe store"

Or "Clothing Store"

You can't trademark a description.

I'm going to trademark the color Red

and YES ...There are reference's to Applications being called APPs in Various Microsoft related materials Way before Apple started the APP Store.

This is going to be a pathetic fight.