Apple Claims App Store Doesn’t Mean a Store for Apps

• Kevin Krause
• 14 years ago

When I say the words “app” and “store” together, what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you said a store in which one buys apps, you’re wrong according to Apple. In a recent response to an Amazon counterclaim that Apple has no right to sue over their use of the term “app store” to describe the online retailer’s Android applications portal, Apple asserted that the combination of words doesn’t, in fact, “denote a store for apps.” Commence head scratching.

The lawsuit, and the claim that Apple has made, boils down to an issue of common meaning. Amazon is sticking to their guns, saying that Apple’s “app store” trademark can’t be enforced because the term is too generic and already accepted to commonly mean a digital marketplace for apps. The burden is on Apple to prove that no such common meaning exists.

We tend to side with Amazon on this one, and not just for the Android vs. Apple storyline involved here. “App store” is a phrase plastered nearly everywhere, a commonly accepted term. Apple has no one to blame but themselves for that. Of course, if Apple can prove that they are the driving force behind the term’s popularity maybe they have a case. I’m no lawyer or legal expert, though. We’ll leave this decision up to the courts.

[via AndroidPolice]