Microsoft Claiming Term “App Store” As Generic

Wednesday, 12 January 2011 14:59

Microsoft Claiming Term “App Store” As Generic

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Microsoft wants to call their app store an App Store, but Apple thinks different. The term, used by Apple for almost as long as the iPhone has been around, is a registered Apple trademark. Microsoft, on the other hand, finds the term “app store” to be completely generic and not subject to trademark control.

From the

filing:

“Any secondary meaning or fame Apple has in ‘App Store’ is de facto secondary meaning that cannot convert the generic term ‘app store’ into a protectable trademark,” write lawyers for Microsoft in a motion for summary judgment, filed yesterday with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. “Apple cannot block competitors from using a generic name. ‘App store’ is generic and therefore in the public domain and free for all competitors to use.”