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Sorry folks, but Apple is 100% in the right on this one, and if the justice system works, then they will ultimately win this trial.

NOBODY in the ENTIRE TECH WORLD ever used the term "app" or "app store" until Apple coined these phrase, and Apple trademarked it as well! All these other wannabe companies, like Amazon, are all trying to hitch a free ride on Apple's coattails, when Apple did all the hard work of blazing this trail for them and trademarking this term for themselves!

If you don't believe that Apple can trademark "App Store" and keep it for their own use (and they sure as hell should be able to do both), then how in the world can Microsoft get away with trademarking the COMPLETELY GENERIC TERM "Windows"? The term "windows" was used constantly by every human, every single day, in both technology and out of technology.

It would be INSANE for Microsoft to be able to have "Windows" to themselves, if Apple can't have the totally-justified "App Store" all to themselves.

it would be like someone trying to come out with their own "iTunes Store". It's totally ridiculous, and Apple will ultimately win this trial.

My Ti-84 Plus calculator released in 2004 from Texas instruments has a button labeled "apps" that takes me to the list of installed applications, so I'd say apps has been generic since long before the apple iPhone was released. And a store that sells apps called the "app store" seems pretty generic to me.
 
Oh dear oh dear. Apple just doesn't get it. But I bet as the trial date nears it will back off and call it quits as it realises it will fail in it's pathetic DEMAND. Just cause your stinking rich Apple does not mean you can **** on everyone else!
 
Are we really going to go threw this for the 4th or 5th time now. We already showed App store was used before Apple started to used the term.

Citation, please. The word "app" was used before Apple used "App Store". And the word "store" was used before. And there were services similar to the App Store before. But the combination "App Store" on its own was never used as the name for such a service before Apple did. And that is the bit that matters.


the term "app store" i first heard when compaq (later HP) released the Ipaq windows CE devices, (third party application stores sprung up on the interwebs and even back then we shortened the term to "app" store)

Do you have a link where "App Store" was used? Or anything in writing using "App Store"? Or is it just that Apple's trademark is actually so strong that it influences your memory back in time?
 
Nice well done Amazon for crushing this stupid lawsuit.

Crushing what exactly ? Apple lost a motion for an injunction, there has been no verdict on Apple's trademark claims. No one has lost or won anything here as far as the actual claims go.

Do people read ?

Citation, please. The word "app" was used before Apple used "App Store". And the word "store" was used before. And there were services similar to the App Store before. But the combination "App Store" on its own was never used as the name for such a service before Apple did. And that is the bit that matters.

Do we need to go over this again ? I already proved you wrong on this. Do I really need to post Sage Network's APPSTORE trademark application from 1998 to prove you wrong ?
 
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Do we need to go over this again ? I already proved you wrong on this. Do I really need to post Sage Network's APPSTORE trademark application from 1998 to prove you wrong ?

Your logic is wrong. It's a trademark application, and the trademark was abandoned. If anything, it proves that it is perfectly fine for someone (for example Apple) to trademark "App Store" after a previous trademark was abandoned, because apparently nobody complained in 1998 that "APPSTORE" was generic.

The question is whether anyone _used_ the term "App Store". Sage Network apparently didn't, or they wouldn't have abandoned their trademark.
 
App store is a store that sells apps hence it is generic.
App store is considered descriptive and as such can not be trand mark.

You are entitled to your opinion, but the Court decides this and they seem to be in disagreement with your opinion.

From the article,
U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton did not agree that the term is purely generic, according to an order released on Wednesday.
 
You are entitled to your opinion, but the Court decides this and they seem to be in disagreement with your opinion.

From the article,

Court hadn't decided nothing. And the wording "purely generic" tells a lot


The question is whether anyone _used_ the term "App Store". Sage Network apparently didn't, or they wouldn't have abandoned their trademark.


Salesforce.com Announces AppStore Vision and Monetization Strategy for the AppExchange Marketplace

http://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2006/12/061212-1.jsp
 
We already showed App store was used before Apple started to used the term.

Where?

All these companies want to do is be able to describe their store:

"Microsoft has an app store called Marketplace"

If Apple trademarks app store, they would not be able to make such a statement.

Got it?

"Microsoft has an application store called Marketplace"

"Microsoft has a store that sells apps called Marketplace"

Sure seems like they can still say what they need to say.


App store is considered descriptive and as such can not be trand mark.

opps but if I understand it correctly descriptive terms can not be trademark as well.

So how did "Container Store" get a registered trademark?
 
I honestly think that if Apple had used the term "Appstore" (ie. devoid of a space) and trademarked it early on, this wouldn't be happening right now. But they didn't trademark it in time, and the presence of a space makes it seem generic and grammatical in nature, rather than a novel portmanteau (which could certainly be trademarked).

Now they're just kicking and screaming.

Think about it. Certainly Arn would be in the right in trademarking "MacRumors", despite it simply being a mash-up of two existing common-usage words? Would anyone argue with that? No.
 
Salesforce?


"Microsoft has an application store called Marketplace"

"Microsoft has a store that sells apps called Marketplace"

Sure seems like they can still say what they need to say.

No, they couldn't say app store


So how did "Container Store" get a registered trademark?

Because it doesn't has a trademark?

The trademark is "The Container Store"
 
Salesforce?




No, they couldn't say app store




Because it doesn't has a trademark?

The trademark is "The Container Store"

The "the" doesn't matter. "the continent store" is very descriptive, but that's ok since it has achieved "secondary meaning" - people know what you are referring to when you say "the container store."

"container store" is not generic. People don't use the phrase to refer to a type of store. (unlike, for example, "grocery store" or "department store.")
 
Definition of Window:
an opening in the wall of a building, the side of a vehicle, etc., for the admission of air or light, or both, commonly fitted with a frame in which are set movable sashes containing panes of glass.

Did you conveniently ignore this part of the definition, or do you just have a really lame dictionary?

"any of various rectangular boxes appearing on a computer screen that display files or program output, that can usually be moved and resized, and that facilitate multitasking"

GUI windows existed and were referred to by that name before the windows OS was created. You definitely can make the argument that "windows" is generic and simply descriptive.


If Apple would own the rights to the phrase "app store", how would other companies describe their app stores?

Application store. Or "store that sells apps". There are plenty of arguments on both sides, but "what would they call it?" is such a weak one, can't we put it to rest?

No, they couldn't say app store

Because it doesn't has a trademark?

The trademark is "The Container Store"

Go back and read what I said, neither of the statements said "app store".

And does adding "THE" really make that much difference? "The Container Store" is a registered trademark, that's an example of an arguably descriptive and fairly generic name getting awarded a trademark. And I'm sure there are plenty of similar examples.


"container store" is not generic. People don't use the phrase to refer to a type of store. (unlike, for example, "grocery store" or "department store.")

And are there examples of the general public referring to "app store" similar to "grocery store" or "department store" before apple opened theirs?
 
Well, perhaps you didn't heard, but did you see on folder called "Application data", Application description for the .exe suffix files, etc?
I believe that is a hidden folder on Microsoft Os. I know it is on xp. This means most people don't know about it or even how to get to it.
 
"Microsoft has a store that sells apps called Marketplace"

All apps that are sold in Microsofts store are called "Marketplace"!? How do you tell them apart?

"container store" is not generic. People don't use the phrase to refer to a type of store. (unlike, for example, "grocery store" or "department store.")

Exactly, and "app store" is now used the same way as "grocery store" and "department store".
 
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Microsoft Office has been around since 1989, and from the very beginning it was called "a suite of office APPLICATIONS". I've been around longer than that, but you don't have to take my word for it, listen to Wikipedia instead:

"Microsoft Office is a proprietary commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand. According to Forrester Research, as of June 2009, some version of Microsoft Office is used in 80% of enterprises, with 64% of enterprises using Office 2007.[2]"

And, as somebody else has already mentioned, the expression "killer application" has also been used for decades now. Amazon, for example, was for some people the only reason to get an Internet connection to their home so that they can use Amazon - which makes Amazon a killer application for the Internet. Others bought a Mac only to use Final Cut Pro, which would make Final Cut Pro a killer application.

And while we're at it, this is what OS X's own dictionary widget has to say about the word application when used in the context of computers:
"5 Computing a program or piece of software designed and written to fulfill a particular purpose of the user: a database application."

Apple only abbreviated that word.

Oh, by the way, the "Windows Marketplace" was introduced on Oct 12, 2004 - which makes it a couple of years older than Apple's App Store.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/oct04/10-12wmopenpr.mspx

So what was Apple's great achievement here again?
 
Wrong. Apple gets national protection regardless of registration because their use in commerce was national. Further, the cited sections on "false advertising" are applicable. And the case IS in federal court but there are state law claims in the suit. When a case goes to federal court, you don't lose state law claims. The federal court applies state law in diversity cases.

I didn't write that the state law claims would be lost; I wrote that through joinder, whichever federal court that heard the case would be forced to use federal law to decide the outcome because Erie would not control in a situation with dozens of state laws possibly being in conflict with each other over the same common nucleus. In such an instance, federal law will govern how the state law claims are decided.

Note that in reality, Apple did not file 50 different state actions against Amazon; it filed one suit in federal court. For Apple what federal law says is the only relevant factor because it was never going to be able to use individual state laws to achieve victory for the aforementioned reasons.
 
And are there examples of the general public referring to "app store" similar to "grocery store" or "department store" before apple opened theirs?

does not really matter but yes there were. Go look up Handango or go threw multiple other threads on this topic to find them.

Like it has been pointed out before even Apple CEO used App store to describe everyone else respective App store.
Apple failed to educated or even attempt educated and provide a generic name for an App store. As such it got turned into a descriptive name.
 
App store stuff

Let's say I am a merchant.

I sell apps. I sell them in a store. It is an app store.

Or let's say I sell books. I sell them in a store.


Should I call the store a "printed text store" to not offend someone?

While I support Apple in making good products, this kind of issue is really childish on their part.
 
Your logic is wrong. It's a trademark application, and the trademark was abandoned. If anything, it proves that it is perfectly fine for someone (for example Apple) to trademark "App Store" after a previous trademark was abandoned, because apparently nobody complained in 1998 that "APPSTORE" was generic.

Fortunately for us, the courts and the real world don't rely on your flawed analysis of the situation. ;) That fact that no one knew and opposed the filing in 1998 does not make it any less generic/descriptive than it is. It does not mean that Apple is right, nor that the phrase is indeed worthy of a trademark at all.

All it means is that it went unopposed (which we don't really know) and was later abandonned (which we don't know why).

The question is whether anyone _used_ the term "App Store". Sage Network apparently didn't, or they wouldn't have abandoned their trademark.

They used it enough to type it out on the Trademark filing, which means it was used before Apple. Apple didn't coin the term. That proves you wrong enough for me.

So how did "Container Store" get a registered trademark?

3 things, Container Store's Trademark seems to be a typed drawing mark, not a character mark. Also, it's "The Container Store", not any Container store. Finally, because they registered it does not mean it would hold up in court once challenged. ;)

And are there examples of the general public referring to "app store" similar to "grocery store" or "department store" before apple opened theirs?

Before or after doesn't matter. It's the present use that is important. And we do have examples of people using it descriptively right now, in fact, that very person is Steve Jobs himself during his earning's call this year. Twice. ;)


You guys make it so easy...
 
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