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Apple Sues Amazon Over 'App Store' Trademark

scottgroovez said:
Despite the legal wranglings, if you can't call it an app store what do you call it? Maybe too simplistic, but it would be akin to trademarking supermarket. Someone, somewhere had to "invent" a word at some point in history. Doesn't mean they should hold exclusive ownership over that word.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of words that can be used. AppShop, AppMarket, etc. Ultimately who really cares but the companies involved. Whether it's called an app store or takemetofunkytown - if I need an app, I'll go where my device can get apps.
 
gorgeousninja said:
With respect you have shown and proven nothing..
Apple was awarded the TM in 2008. Popular usage of the terms 'app' and 'app store' only begin to appear after Apple had brought them to market.
Those are facts. Easily proven, facts!

I think this case interestingly does go to show just how far Windows has now fallen that people who once called themselves fanboys now desperately deny ever using words like 'programs' to describe the windows ecosystem.

iPods became so popular that they became the generic term for mp3 players,
iPhones were so future forward that they are still the smartphones.
iPads have already defined what is a tablet,
and the 'app store' is yet another example of Apple completely innovating how users of their products interact with their world.

But the revisionists still try to twist the truth, so that they can justify to themselves why they never need to be thankful, or act in any way respectful.

And that it's absolutely fine for everyone else to rip-off Apples ideas.
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Is there a term for folks like you who think Apple is the center of the known Universe and everything else just revolves around it? At least Aristotle's Ptolemaic Model was just due to lack of the scientific data and knowledge at the time.
 
jmcrutch said:
I have no idea how to research this particular information, but it would be very interesting to see the statistics on Google searches that included the term "app" before and after Apple's App Store was founded.
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Not completely scientific, but here's the trend for the search term "app":

viz



And here's the trend for the term "app store":

viz



Don't know if this proves anything, but it is interesting...
 
^ thanks for the Google trends posts and links. I was unaware of that feature. Always nice to learn something [that is] new [to me].
 
LagunaSol said:
I dare you to develop an OS, call it Windows (sans the "Microsoft" part) and see what happens.

Ditto another completely generic brand name, Office.
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You're actually proving the point against yourself.

MS Office products are only trademarked within their own specific context.

Notice that in the case of Microsoft Office, only the logo itself is trademarked:

http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/IntellectualProperty/Trademarks/EN-US.aspx

Same deal with Word. Only the logo is trademarked, not the name, because it's too generic.

However, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel are all trademarked names, because they aren't generic.

I have OpenOffice running right now on my macbook pro. Are you going to try and tell me that Microsoft owns the second part of that product name?

They are only able to have a trademark registration on Windows because it doesn't specifically have anything to do with, well...windows. Like on a house or a car or an airplane. Unrelated.

Kind of like Apple can be a trademarked name for a company that sells computers. Nobody is confused about the fact that Apple, Inc isn't selling produce.

App store is a sufficiently generic term that Apple is going to lose this decision in the end. They pretty much have to defend the trademark in the mean time, but it's a lost cause.
 
logandzwon said:
Do I need to do all your work for you?
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4001:250ckq.3.22


How about;
The Shoe Store
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4001:250ckq.3.31
or
Online Shoe store
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4001:250ckq.3.28
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Of course protection of the TM in that particular case only extends to it's use as the ".com" version of the term.

EDIT- sorry, I posted when your post only had the single hyperlink. The other one shows as "dead," however. Can't remember from my days an IP lawyer what that means.

No worries though. Apple's and Amazon's lawyers each have plenty of great examples that they'll each use in their briefs to the court. They will not bother with trying to sway our opinion, however, because it is irrelevant.
 
ok, I got owned on that post for sure... :eek: Yes, your all right, first one for only for the logo, the others were abandoned and are dead.
 
samcraig said:
But don't you love logandzwon's condescension to everyone? It's rich.
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samcraig... not for nothing, but you started your post by insulting a forum member. When I pointed out that you shouldn't insult someone when you, yourself also make mistakes, (like all of us,) you ASKED me to explain how...
 
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logandzwon said:
samcraig... not for nothing, but you started your post by insulting a forum member. When I pointed out that you shouldn't insult someone when you, yourself also make mistakes, (like all of us,) you ASKED me to explain how...
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I wouldn't go so far as to say I was insulting. I would say that my post was snarky and satire in nature pointing out a hypocrisy and also indicating that the poster wasn't really adding anything of value. I'm sure you cannot only appreciate that - but recognize it if you go back to the source post(s). But we go on...
 
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TennisandMusic said:
Uhhh.....Open Office?

An app store is JUST an app store. Hence the "grocery store" example I used earlier. I will spell it out even more clearly here.

Person 1 - "I am going to the grocery store for food."

Person 2 - "Which one?"

It's as generic as it gets and it applies to apps.

Person 1 - "I bought this game from the app store."

Person 2 - "Whose?"

See? The only problem here is if someone is myopic enough to think "the app store" should apply ONLY to Apple. I can't imagine being that foolish though. It IS a generic term for a place to buy software.
Click to expand...

You have lots of issues with this post. While an App Store is just an App Store, the only App Store is the Apple App Store. Before 2008, there was no use of the term "App Store". Even now:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q="App+Store"&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

results in 55 million hits on the Apple's App Store. Not Android's App Store. Not BB's App Store. Apple's. A top hit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App_Store

Even AppStore:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...="AppStore"&aq=f&aqi=g-sz1g-s3g1g-s5&aql=&oq=

Gets a "Did you mean: App Store" and the top hits are all Apple's or Amazon/Apple lawsuits.

So when people ask: I got it on the App Store. 99% of people assume Apple's App Store. Only someone with their head in the sand will rush to the Android Marketplace thinking App Store means the same thing.

So while people have been using the word Applications for programs for years on OS X. Executables for programs on Windows for years. Some people have simply used the work programs.

Find me this common usage of "App Store" like "Grocery Store". The first use of "App Store" is with Apple in 2008.

Likewise, write a Windowed based OS and call it "Windows" and see how far you get.
 
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