Amazon stole our name and must be stopped, the tech giant believes, as the battle over the app store name intensifies.
Apple is on the war path again and this time online retail giant Amazon is the target.
On Friday last, Steve Jobs tech co filed an injunction with a Californian district court claiming Amazon infringed patent rights for its “App Store” name, which it currently holds.
Amazon has traded its applications shop under the name “Amazon appstore” since earlier this year.
As well as seeking an injunction to stop its rival using the name the tech giant is also looking for an unspecified sum in damages.
The accusing party argues the name duplication will cause confusion and will mislead consumers over which store is backed by Apple, who sell over 300,000 apps for their iPad, iPhone.
The tech giant filed for a patent for the ‘App Store’ name on July 17, 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal.
However, that is not all the legal wrangling that is going on for the app store name.
Microsoft is appealing to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over the decision to grant Apple ownership of the title.
Steve Ballmer’s software outfit claims the concept of an app store was
“generic” and that any fame associated with its formal title was
secondary. However, Apple maintain generic use of the term “app store”
is a reference to its own iOS and now Mac shops.
“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 has claimed in its court filing against Amazon.
However, what the outcome to this litigation will be is unknown as technically, Amazon uses the word ” appstore,” while the accusers use “App Store”.
