Amazon Android appstore V Apple Appstore: Steve Jobs’ giant is likely to lose the Appstore row with Amazon as the US judge presiding over the case said she ll “probably” throw out its claims.This is due to a lack of evidence surrounding Apple’s claims that any duplication of the name “appstore” will cause confusion among Apple’s customers, Judge Hamilton said at a hearing yesterday.
“I’m troubled by the showing that you’ve made so far, but that’s where you’re likely not to prevail at this early juncture,” Hamilton said according to CNET reports.
So, what’s in a name? Well, Apple are arguing there is a lot, in particular the “Appstore” title, which it claims Amazon infringed on patent rights when naming its own “appstore”, which the global e-tailing giant unveiled earlier this year.
This launch of a rival “appstore” to Apple’s Appstore with enormous market clout offering Android downloads and games (Amazon is one of the most visited websites globally) has annoyed its Cupertino based rivals so much it took its grievances to the US courts demanding it cease trading under the name.
“Consumers of mobile software downloads are likely to be confused as to whether Amazon’s mobile software download service is sponsored or approved by Apple,” it complained in the file lodged in a California court in March last.
(However, since Amazon’s appstore is for rival Android OS, surely this leaves confusion at a minimum?)
Amazon countersued claiming the term appstore was generic.
And Amazon are not the only one who will be pleased with this verdict, if it comes to pass.
Microsoft too is lobbying the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over Apple’s application for ownership of the coveted Appstore title, claiming the title is “generic.” Apple already owns the patents in Europe.
However, the Cupertino based Apple “denies that the mark App Store is generic and, on that basis, denies that the Amazon Appstore for Android service is an ‘app store,” it said as part of its ongoing legal exchanges with its Android foe, Amazon.
So, the score could end up Android 1, Apple 0.
