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
So lets say they trademarked "app store".
would that make it illegal for others to call thier service an app store? not in the sense as a title.
Example: Microsoft Marketplace is named... Microsoft Marketplace, however in legal documentation, that call it an app store.
Would that give Apple basis to sue Microsoft? or only if Microsoft were to change its Marketplace to... Microsoft App Store?
would that make it illegal for others to call thier service an app store? not in the sense as a title.
Example: Microsoft Marketplace is named... Microsoft Marketplace, however in legal documentation, that call it an app store.
Would that give Apple basis to sue Microsoft? or only if Microsoft were to change its Marketplace to... Microsoft App Store?
if they want to do that then go with "IOS app store" "Mac app store " and "apple tv app store".
none of these would have caused any of the arguments happening now. like i said early the public in the end will call them what they want like they have now
It's called Handmark and has the word "store" in it's URL, and it may now be what we started to call an "app store", but unless they use that actual term ever (before Apple did) it doesn't really matter.
Their trademark is most likely "Handmark".
Sure. You'd avoid the arguments, but Apple would lose the advantage of the trademark it is trying to gain! There is no need for them to resign the argument unless they lose. I'm sure what you proposed is being considered as a backup plan.
Why?
It just seems like something a fanboy would do, desperately trying really hard to find something to laugh about at the competition, which to regular people would be like, ok?
I haven't read any other comments, but let me asked, Windows is not trademark right? It's Microsoft Windows or something like that. I think it would have been impossible for Microsoft to have trademark Windows.
I think this and every forum on the internet would be a very boring place without misunderstanding the tone of messages.
Everyone knows the history on this, since the late 80's, software that runs on Windows is called PROGRAMS, and Applications or Apps run on Apple computers.
I guess in a sense its replacement.
iChat is on my Hackintosh, but I'm sure Lion wont have it.
Should have put it differently.
Sole use of the term "App Store" to describe a store that sells software applications? Is that a trick question?
Ummmm...it may be generic NOW...roughly 30 years AFTER they invented Windows.
But back in 1982 when MS was developing their new OS, the personal and business computer world was about to see everything go from command line UI to a UI that was graphical and involved windows. Hence they called it Windows.
Terms like this have happened a thousand times over history. MS didn't have to come up with some 4-letter word. 1 would suffice and it was (and still is) extremely easy to explain why they called it Windows.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-gb; GT-P1000 Build/FROYO) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
Google has Android Market.
Microsoft has Windows (Phone?) Marketplace.
Blackberry has Blackberry App World.
Apple has App Store.
Nokia has Ovi Store (Until they become the whores of Microsoft when they go WP7)
All of these are different enough and describe their purpose pretty well in my eyes. If Microsoft feel they will one day need to describe their application market as "Windows Phone Marketplace App Store" then they have failed in marketing it properly in my eyes.
They can describe it without without having to use "app store" via one of these other methods:
Application Store.
App(lication) Market.
App(lication) Resource.
App(lication) Marketplace.
Plenty of discriptive terms for their Application store available if they need it.
Google has Android Market.
Microsoft has Windows (Phone?) Marketplace.
Blackberry has Blackberry App World.
Apple has App Store.
Nokia has Ovi Store (Until they become the whores of Microsoft when they go WP7)
All of these are different enough and describe their purpose pretty well in my eyes. If Microsoft feel they will one day need to describe their application market as "Windows Phone Marketplace App Store" then they have failed in marketing it properly in my eyes.
They can describe it without without having to use "app store" via one of these other methods:
Application Store.
App(lication) Market.
App(lication) Resource.
App(lication) Marketplace.
Plenty of discriptive terms for their Application store available if they need it.
microsoft is totally right, app store is super generic
"oh snap i got some ****** azz windows phone from my work, oh well might as well go buy some applications for it, what kind of store would i use for the purchase of these ****** apps, oh right the ******-app-store"
when welling apps, the term apps is a given, store on the other hand could be fandangled. you could use shop, or retailer, vender, hub, marketas alternatives but store is most commonly used term in english.
department store
grocery store
corner store
pet store/petshop
apple should have seen this coming (probably did and wanted to squeeze out the competition)
they also should have made the fuss over windows when it came out because its too late to turn back that clock.
"oh snap i got some ****** azz windows phone from my work, oh well might as well go buy some applications for it, what kind of store would i use for the purchase of these ****** apps, oh right the ******-app-store"
when welling apps, the term apps is a given, store on the other hand could be fandangled. you could use shop, or retailer, vender, hub, marketas alternatives but store is most commonly used term in english.
department store
grocery store
corner store
pet store/petshop
apple should have seen this coming (probably did and wanted to squeeze out the competition)
they also should have made the fuss over windows when it came out because its too late to turn back that clock.
Um... I hate to break it to you, but back in 1982 when MS was developing their new (graphical shell for a command-line) OS, there were already several *other* windowing operating environments which had been created, some of which (such as the Apple Lisa) were actively available on the market.
The Windowing UI concept (broadly known by the WIMP acronym, which stands for Window, Icon, Mouse, Pointer) was a concept developed by Xerox PARC in the 1970s. Apple later licensed that technology to create the Lisa and Macintosh operating systems. In fact, Windows exists *because* of a license agreement between Apple and Microsoft which licensed the technology to Microsoft with the purpose of allowing Microsoft to create applications for the Macintosh. (The license was more liberal than Apple realized/intended, and Microsoft was able to parley that into their own graphical shell which ran on top of DOS.)
The idea that "windows" was not a generic term in computing which directly described the product "Windows" when it was first created shows a certain lack of knowledge as to the history of the industry. Browse around Wikipedia for a while, and you might learn something.
If "Windows" is an acceptable trademark for a windowing operating system/environments, then "App Store" IS an acceptable trademark for a store that sells apps. For exactly the same reasons. No one called their windowing operating systems/environments "Windows" before Microsoft. No one called their online application stores "App Store" before Apple.
App Store is not the same as application store. App is not the same as App Store. You don't get to divvy up the trademark to contest individual elements of it; they go together.
I think Apple stands on pretty firm ground here. I really hope they win. Clear hypocrisy from Microsoft. (at least IMO)
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-gb; GT-P1000 Build/FROYO) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
Container store eh?
Hang on... They have Windows too!
DoofenshmirtzEI said:
Container store eh?
Hang on... They have Windows too!
But that's exactly what trademarks are for!
Dictionary.com: "A trademark is a proprietary term that is usually registered with the Patent and Trademark Office to assure its exclusive use by its owner."
The dorkiness just keeps growing, lol.