Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Defends Against Microsoft in 'App Store' Trademark Dispute
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
There was a statement which I understood. It was just not backed up with any supporting anything.
It's got nothing to do with not understanding, I'm just not sure anything was actually being said.
You don't know me, so please cast no aspersions on my intelligence one way or the other.
While I don't remember anyone calling them apps before iPhone - they were usually called applications or programs, that's probably true as I do recall the term "Killer App" being used long before the iPhone.
Still, there's nothing wrong with trademarking a generic term in the context of something else. Home Depot are two generic terms, too, yet I don't think anyone else can start a Home Depot chain.
I assume that you don't live in a country where English is the dominant language.
Windows are what people have in their houses, offices and cars to let light in and to see out of. They are not called portals but windows in English. Also, every GUI operating system known to man was "windows" and Microsoft windows was not the first window based GUI operating system. Mac OS also was not the first but it is one of the first well known ones.
Office is another generic term as is word, excel, outlook, access and publisher.
Every application in OS X has the file extension of .app so I think Apple deserve the trademark. If MSFT want to create an "exe store" they are welcome to it.
While it is, lets not forget about when Apple tried to sue Microsoft about the GUI when Apple's GUI itself was heavily based on Xerox's version.
Last edited by a moderator:
Illegal monopolistic practices, IT job security, cheap price, etc.
Certainly nothing to do with quality. Windows 3.0 was quality? 3.1? 95? Oh please.
A tired argument. Apple doesn't even offer businesses means to manage the equipment. Windows has thrived because Microsoft sells you an entire infrastructure. You get the OS, the Servers, the Storage, the works, and it all snaps in. With Apple you buy expensive computers and manage them with a Mac Mini Server
But that's not the point. The app store is an app store, right? Windows is an OS, not a collection of physical windows. As the user you quoted said, it'd have to be an OS called "Operating System". Windows isn't a GUI, nor is Mac OSX. They contain/implement GUIs but they're not sold as GUIs.
The difference is Home Depot doesn't sell homes. The name isn't wholly descriptive like App Store, which is a Store for Apps.
"Home" and "Depot" are two generic terms, insofar as any word in the English language is a generic term. "Home Depot" isn't a description of the store's function, though - if asked to describe the "Home Depot," you'd likely refer to it as a "hardware store."
A term is "generic" when it can be applied to an entire category of products. Could you call Lowe's, Ace Hardware, etc., "home depots?" Of course not - that would sound silly. But you could describe the Android Marketplace, the webOS App Catalog, etc., as "app stores." That's where the difference is.
Apple's attempt to trademark "App Store" is the equivalent of someone opening up a hardware store called "Hardware Store," and then attempting to trademark the term.
While I agree, I wonder how Apple would have acted if they were in the lead? I mean, look at the iPhone and how long it takes to get some relatively basic software features compared to other companies - because they're all trying to beat it as the iPhone is in the lead.
If Apple had the majority of sales with the OS they would just sit back and relax like they always do.
They should just say App is short for Apple.
On a completely unrelated topic, I really enjoy a nice old cheddar.
D.
On a completely unrelated topic, I really enjoy a nice old cheddar.
D.
Those were the days when Microsoft could name something appropriately. Now it's Zune, XBOX 360, Windows Phone 7 Series, Vista, Azure, etc.
But if "App Store" is such a generic and widely used term, why has someone in the 30-year of applications or "apps" used the name BEFORE Apple. It doesn't sound like it was that widely used to me, if it all prior to apple's usage.
Sonny and Cher
I shudda been a mouthpiece for a big company. All they do is sue each other with no positive improvement in product or tech. The shareholder foots the bill and these guys just push paper.
In the financial "industry" it is even worse. If any Wall St dirt bag loses in court, the company pays the fine with TAX PAYER money that the financial "institution" was given during a bail out.
....... and the beat goes on.
I shudda been a mouthpiece for a big company. All they do is sue each other with no positive improvement in product or tech. The shareholder foots the bill and these guys just push paper.
In the financial "industry" it is even worse. If any Wall St dirt bag loses in court, the company pays the fine with TAX PAYER money that the financial "institution" was given during a bail out.
....... and the beat goes on.
No. You did.
First - by using a cliche'.
Second - because Microsoft (and any other company) is well within their rights to dispute something they see as inappropriate to trademark.
So - you failed twice in three words. Congrats!
So, could you buy them in something ACTUALLY called an "App Store", if not...it's a moot point, and bears no relevance to this conversation as the word "App" is not being contested.
The original Windows may not have been sold as a GUI, but in reality that is all it was
