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]