A US judge denied Apple’s attempt to stop retailer Amazon.com from using the term “App Store” for its third-party outlet for Android apps.
The name is questioned when Apple Inc. filed a suit against the online retail site because it has trademarked the name “App Store,”
Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet said that Apple has asked Amazon to stop using the App Store name because it will eventually “confuse and mislead customers.”
Amazon said that the term “app store” is no different than “grocery store” or “electronics store.”
US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said: “The court finds that Apple has not established a likelihood of success on its dilution claim. First, Apple has not established that its ‘App Store’ mark is famous, in the sense of being ‘prominent’ and ‘renowned.’ The evidence does show that Apple has spent a great deal of money on advertising and publicity, and has sold/provided/furnished a large number of apps from its AppStore, and the evidence also reflects actual recognition of the ‘App Store’ mark. However, there is also evidence that the term ‘app store’ is used by other companies as a descriptive term for a place to obtain software applications for mobile devices.”
In 2008, Microsoft opposed Apple’s bid to register the “app store” name with the US Patent and Trademark Office, claiming that the term could not be registered because it was generic.
Amazon said that the company does not use “App Store” as a trademark, but it uses it to tell the consumers that their service is a store for Android apps.
via: Pocket-lint
