“Microsoft is asking the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to deny Apple a trademark on the name ‘App Store,’ saying the term is generic and competitors should be able to use it,” Stephen Lawson reports for IDG News.
“Apple applied for the trademark in 2008 for goods and services including ‘retail store services featuring computer software provided via the internet and other computer and electronic communication networks’ and other related offerings,” Lawson reports. “Apple launched its App Store for the iPhone that year along with its iPhone 3G. The store is now available on any device that runs the company’s iOS software, namely the iPod Touch and iPad, and Apple introduced its Mac App Store earlier this month.”
Lawson reports, “On Tuesday, Microsoft filed a motion for summary judgment with the agency’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, asking it to deny the trademark to Apple… Microsoft also said consumers and the trade and general media use “app store” generically to mean online stores where applications are sold.”
MacDailyNews Take: They also use “iPod” to refer to just about any portable media player. “iPod” is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Next argument.
Lawson reports, “Apple’s online store represented a new idea for mobile software shopping when it was launched and quickly became a big success, emulated by many other handset makers and some mobile operators.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft. Fixated on a rivet while being run over by a freight train’s caboose.