Microsoft Claiming Term “App Store” As Generic

Mercredi, 12 Janvier 2011 14:59

Microsoft Claiming Term “App Store” As Generic

E-mail

Rate this item

(0 Votes)

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.”