Judge rejects Apple's request for preliminary injunction in App Store trademark case
A federal judge in California has rejected a request by Apple to halt Amazon's use of the words "App Store." The injunction request is part of a lawsuit filed in March against the online retailer.
Apple does have a trademark on the term App Store, which is registered in many countries around the world, including the US. However, the validity of the mark is already under challenge from Microsoft on the grounds that, "app store" is generic for retail store services featuring apps and unregistrable for ancillary services such as searching for and downloading apps from such stores."
In defense of their App Store trademark, Apple argues that consumers associate the term App Store exclusively with their brand. They also claim the word "app" is not a generic term for an application. As proof of the second part, they point to the fact that the word doesn't appear in any standard dictionary.
That particular claim is laughable on its face. Search the internet for "Android" and you will find the term app used almost universally to describe programs for that OS - including in the title of the main Android Marketplace page.
Apple also claims the substantial amount of advertising they have done for the iTunes App Store prove that the term is identified exclusively with that service.
