Apple has decided to sue Amazon for its use of the term “App Store.” Apple has been using the term App Store for its iTunes applications market since July 2008 when the iPhone 3G was released and third-party apps came along with it.
Amazon, however, argues that it calls its own third-party application market “Appstore,” which is different from Apple’s “App Store.” OK then!
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The filing says Amazon began using the phrase around January of this year to refer to its mobile-software download service. Amazon, however, cites it as “Appstore,” with no space and a lower case ‘s’.
“We’ve asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers,” said a spokeswoman for Apple. A spokeswoman for Amazon said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Oh yeah, it would be so confusing and misleading to customers because we’re all so clueless and dense that we just might think that we can download apps from Amazon and install them right into our iPhones and iPads!
Apple’s trademark on the “App Store” term had been granted, but even Microsoft challenged it a while back saying that it wasn’t fair or appropriate that one company gets to lay claim to such a generic term. But is it really unfair? How many app stores were there prior to the one in iTunes that the general public knew about? Exactly.
[Via: WSJ]