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Apple charges Amazon with falsely advertising its Appstore

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, November 18th, 2011 at 9:32 AM
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Apple’s war with Amazon over the “Appstore” name has not finished yet. Apple widened its lawsuit a bit recently, claiming that Amazon made some changes to the way it advertises its Appstore after the Kindle Fire came out. Previously, Amazon added the tagline “for Android” to make the platform on which it’s available clear, but ever since the company released its tablet, that tagline is nowhere to be found.

I must point out, however, that upon visiting the Amazon Appstore website I am not at all confused about which platform I can access it on.

Nonetheless, Apple states its claim:

“Amazon’s use is also likely to lessen the goodwill associated with Apple’s App Store service and Apple products designed to utilize Apple’s App Store service by associating Apple’s App Store service with the inferior qualities of Amazon’s service.”

The lawsuit includes screenshots of areas on Amazon where the “for Android” is either missing or lacks emphasis, but can’t people just figure out when they go to download a particular app if it’s available for their phone or not? It’s really very simple.

I’m also not sure how the removal of “for Android” in some places lessens “the goodwill associated with Apple’s App Store.” It all seems like a bit of petty nonsense, in my humble opinion. Apple has almost always put out strong legal arguments for itself, especially in the ongoing battles with Samsung, but this time I’m not buying it.

This entire war began back in March when Amazon first launched its Appstore for Android and Apple wasn’t fond of the similar naming technique. Amazon counter-sued with the claim that “App Store” is far too generic. Though the judge didn’t agree with this, she did not find any reason for confusion between the two names and ruled in favor of Amazon.

[via CNET]

About The Author

George Tinari

George has followed technology news for quite some time, but he only started writing about it a few years ago. He particularly enjoys covering Apple, but that doesn't stop him from reporting on a wide range of topics in the mobile area. When he's not reporting for IntoMobile, you can usually find George listening to a wide array of music, trying to be funny and sarcastic, eating, or voicing his opinions about all things tech on his personal blog, GT Daily.

  • Jaime Ramirez

    OMG COME ON ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! F*CK APPLE!!!

  • Jaime Ramirez

    OMG COME ON ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! F*CK APPLE!!!

  • http://twitter.com/bragzter Bradley Larcher

    In the voice of Micheal Western from Burn Notice: “A bunch of bitchy little girls.”

  • Jon Garrett

    False advertising? is this the same company that stated “The first dual core tablet to ship in mass (or is it en mass?)  when the Motorola Xoom was already on store shelves and the iPad 2 had NOT shipped a single unit because they were still taking back orders?!!?!?!

    • http://www.gtdaily.net/?source=disqus George Tinari

      In Apple’s defense, they did say the first dual-core tablet to ship in volume, and that was true.

      • Jon Garrett

        again.

        the Motorola Xoom was the first dual core tablet to ship, and it was shipped in volume. apple said the ipad 2 was the first tablet to ship in volume and that simply is not true no matter how you try to spin it.

        that’s like saying I’m going to be the first guy to kiss a girl but you actually kissed 10 girls a month before I made that statement..

        • http://www.gtdaily.net/?source=disqus George Tinari

          I see your point, though by comparison the Xoom didn’t really ship in volume. 250,000 units shipped in Q1. Apple SOLD 4.69 million iPad 2s in Q1.

          • Jon Garrett

            250,000 may be a small number compared to 4.69 but the fact remains, the Xoom was shipped and on the streets when the iPad 2 was still siting in some warehouse in China.

            so apple determines how many tablets is sufficient to qualify as mass? you can sit there and play with words all you want but it seems really childish to me.