You can get descriptive trademarks, i.e Vision Center. And again, the whole mark counts in the evaluation. There are as of today 686 APP trademarks at the USPTO, including Apple's App Store. But besides all that, you're going to have a difficult time showing that consumers would be confused. Apple owns the public perception of App Store. That's a steeper hill than you think.
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Apple Defends Against Microsoft in 'App Store' Trademark Dispute
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You can get descriptive trademarks, i.e Vision Center. And again, the whole mark counts in the evaluation. There are as of today 686 APP trademarks at the USPTO, including Apple's App Store. But besides all that, you're going to have a difficult time showing that consumers would be confused. Apple owns the public perception of App Store. That's a steeper hill than you think.
App Store is clearly a shorthand for App[le] Store - as in a store for Apple products.
Case closed.
Case closed.
I'm thinking these three high profile services do not currently and have not in the past used the phrase App Store, even appended by their corporate name, and could also just as likely "claim" App Mart or App Zap or Application Merchandise Purchase Portal. The realm of the subjunctive. They didn't use it.
And "app store", a colloquial phrase of two words not demonstrated to be in common use together prior to Apple's commercial use, is not the same as AppStore or App Store.
I disagree - I only remember it being used by Apple. Everybody else who's been selling software through an online store has done it through their website and is always named after their company or product name.
Wrong again. Prior to Apple, the name I and everyone around me used for software was (and still is in PC land) "program" or "programs". We've never used the term applications or its short hand version "app", which Apple has popularized. Apple, in my opinion, has the same right to trademark its chosen term as Microsoft does with "Windows", "Word", "Office", etc. all three of those words by the way, are far more common.
So what? "Apple" isn't an Apple farm. "Aperture" isn't an actual mechanical aperture part or assembly for cameras. Your point is baseless.
Microsoft should know better, BUT so should all of us. What I mean by that is, in this day and age, law suits are an ugly and unfortunate business strategy tool, for lack of better words, used by companies to stop or slow down a competitor and to generate further revenue.
What's happening here is simple - Apple is the first company to successfully popularize a single common name for an online software store not tied to a company or product name, and everyone wants a piece of it, so everyone's angry that Apple is trying to prevent others from piggy backing on its hard work for a free ride.
Are you really making that argument?
App Store stands for App store. That's it. That's why it's a dumb name to trademark.
As opposed to Windows stands for an operating system made by Microsoft and Office stands for a productivity suite made by Microsoft.
The term 'Windows' doesn't even begin to describe that the product is an OS, nor what the OS does, nor anything. It's just a metaphorical name based around some UI elements.
In contrast, the term 'App Store' completely describes that the service is an application store, and it describes what it does (a storefront for applications.) It's like naming Subway "Sandwich Store" or naming UPS "Delivery Courier" and then trademarking it. It's stupid. I'm surprised Apple's rebuttal completely ignored this.
But of course people completely ignore this and alas you'll see a million more posts with people going 'hurr durr windoze is such an original naem lolz'
this is the start of the end of microsoft.......
steve ballmer raving clown/monkey boy needs to go down and melt in his own blubber, like the bug ridden corporation that has been milking everyone since the early 80s, good for william skates that exited some time ago......
and in 10 years + the same might happen to apple......... catch22
steve ballmer raving clown/monkey boy needs to go down and melt in his own blubber, like the bug ridden corporation that has been milking everyone since the early 80s, good for william skates that exited some time ago......
and in 10 years + the same might happen to apple......... catch22
And you completely ignore the whole point of trademarking. You can trademark a store name, not just an operating system or a productivity suite. Duh !
And I hate to break it to you...
1)You missed my point...I never said MS was the FIRST or ONLY to create the windows-type environment...I merely stated that it was involved and it was basically 30 years ago.
2)Yes, I am aware of the entire history of almost all of MS products, as well as Apple, and in fact the entire personal computer industry as a whole. But you seem to think otherwise simply because I didn't write a brief history lesson on this thread. I am also not about to write a summary of my qualifications to appease you or others here. I don't need to "learn something" as you claim by browsing Wikipedia.
3)When MS patented/laid claim to the Windows name back in the very early 80s, they were the first to claim it. Period. So what?
4)As far as this Apple vs. MS battle now, I really don't have an opinion.
I think you had a brain fart. Read my post again. I never said you couldn't trademark a store name.
I agree with your post 100% and that's my only gripe with Microsoft at the moment. Why put up a barrier for something you don't need?
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I agree...Microsoft deserves the trademark for "Windows" in the appropriate classifications. They created a unique name not in use prior to their mark. Just because non-commercial use of some version of the trademarked word was somewhat common within the industry, this was a commercial use. Didn't cause any confusion, didn't trample on anyone else's mark either.
Same with Apple and AppStore.
You're correct I was thinking of the Android Market, webOS App Catalog, and Blackberry App World. The names that those companies' marketing executives choose is irrelevant with regard to whether or not Apple's trademark claim is valid. And, just as with Apple and "App Store," if HP were to try and trademark "App Catalog" I would call ******** it's generic enough a term that it can be used as an umbrella for any of these services. (Android Market would be trademarkable because it is clearly the Android Market, and App World would be because it isn't literally a world of apps).
Who cares? It doesn't matter whether or not the term was in the common lexicon prior to Apple's use of it if it can be shown that the trademark is generic. And, since the term can be used to describe any such repository of software, it is generic.
Furthermore, I'm not sure what value this trademark would have for Apple if "app store" and "App Store" were not the same. If that were the case, then even if Apple were granted the "App Store" trademark it couldn't do anything to prevent its competitors from branding their stores as "app stores." Rest assured, Apple believes that "app store" and "App Store" are a package deal.
I am thinking it does. Because once Apple trademarks App Store, I think I would not be able to advertise "Please go to our app store called XXX to find games for our new device!"
If I did, wouldn't Apple be able to come knocking on my door to say: "Please don't use 'app store' to describe XXX?"
Given the post to which you originally replied, you certainly seemed to be making the claim that the term "windows" was not generic as applicable to operating systems/environments back when MS was busy developing it.
I didn't say you did. The point I was making is that "window" *was* a generic term at the time. Over time, it has gained specificity due to the fame of the marked product in question. That has no bearing on the history of the mark, and only goes to demonstrate why "App Store" being descriptive is not a barrier to becoming an Apple trademark.
That's exactly the same scenario Apple is in now with it's "App Store" trademark.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148 Sleipnir/1.0m)
The dumbest thing about this is that the term app is synonymous to Apple even before the iPhone. Windows users are familiar with programs while Mac users have had apps. All our apps on MacOS have a .app extension do they not?
The dumbest thing about this is that the term app is synonymous to Apple even before the iPhone. Windows users are familiar with programs while Mac users have had apps. All our apps on MacOS have a .app extension do they not?
Use of 'app store' on Google
http://www.google.co.uk/trends?q=app+store&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
http://www.google.co.uk/trends?q=app+store&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
The term has a history starting in 2006 if you use the US version of Google: http://www.google.com/trends?q=google+trends
Maybe google didn't track that before 2006. Who knows?
Yeah you would be able to say that.
If you go around saying "Purchase XYZ in The AppStore on :blank device that isn't iOS:, THEN Apple will/can come knocking. Apple don't want people (other companies) to use App Store as a selling point for their Application store. Not your Apps that you make for whatever device. Furthermore if you're a developer you'd know which store is which. Android -> Market. Apple -> AppStore ETC.
Microsoft honestly just want to be able to use it somewhere "Windows Phone AppStore"
I bet everyone this is what'll happen IF they do in fact win this. Rotf Pathetic.
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You've Google-Trended for 'Google Trends'. The US site shows the same data:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=app+store&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
edited: Google Trends pulls data as far back as 2004.
Yeah you would be able to say that.
If you go around saying "Purchase XYZ in The AppStore on :blank device that isn't iOS:, THEN Apple will/can come knocking. Apple don't want people (other companies) to use App Store as a selling point for their Application store. Not your Apps that you make for whatever device. Furthermore if you're a developer you'd know which store is which. Android -> MarketPlace. Apple -> AppStore ETC.
Microsoft honestly just want to be able to use it somewhere "Windows Phone AppStore"
No. Microsoft will stick with Marketplace.