Judge rejects Apple bid for preliminary injunction against Amazon; trial set for October 2012

“A U.S. judge denied Apple Inc’s attempt to quickly stop online retailer Amazon.com Inc. from using the ‘App Store’ name, according to a court document,” Dan Levine reports for Reuters.

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“Apple, the maker of best-selling iPhones and iPad tablets, filed a trademark lawsuit saying that Amazon has improperly used Apple’s App Store name to solicit software developers throughout the United States,” Levine reports. “U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton did not agree that the term is purely generic, according to an order released on Wednesday. However Apple has not established ‘a likelihood of confusion’ with Amazon’s services to get an injunction, Hamilton wrote.”

Levine reports, “In an earlier ruling on Wednesday, Hamilton set a trial date for October 2012.”

Read more in the full article here.

20 Comments

  1. Oct 2012>>>Typical snail paced US Justice at work. It’s no wonder companies copy other companies designs/products. By the time any justice is served, sufficient sales will have occurred to absorb any legal speed bump.

    1. Thanks Marco, for taking time out of your busy schedule of popping zits and nose picking to imbue us with your wit and wisdom. You never cease to amaze and impress.

      What a dumbass.

        1. So, if Apple “loses” as you put it, in this case Amazon will get to continue to use the name “App Store”. Yeah. Apple’s really hurting over that one. NOT.

          You know, it’s not that anyone here actually cares whether you’re a “hardcore Apple believer” or not. It’s that you’re an active anti-Apple cheerleader and you come to an Apple fan site to troll. You’re pathetic and we pity you.

  2. What is it with these damn fir-king courts? What makes the most OBVIOUS cases of plagiarism take so long through the court system? Samsung is OBVIOUSLY copying the iPhone and iPad. Yet it’s “too early” (to use the courts words), to get an injunction. And in THIS case Amazon is OBVIOUSLY hijacking the “App Store” trademark (and yes, it is an Apple trademark to the best of my knowledge). But even IF it is not trade marked, it has been a core part of Apples lexicon for as long as going back to 2007, maybe longer. Remember, that MS has the “Windows” word trademarked even though NOW they argue against Apple patenting a “common” english word. “Windows” is certainly more common than “App” and by extension “App Store”.

  3. Typical uninformed idiots posting about the U.S. Justice system. Preliminary injunctions are, and should be, very difficult to get. You have to PROVE (not claim, not surmise, not accuse) that you will suffer irreparable harm. Apple can’t show that Amazon using the term “App Store” will cause confusion among consumers or harm Apple. So no injunction should be issued.

    1. Bizlaw,

      It is elitist “Biznis” Law grads (i assume you graduated) like you that are the problem! Yes in most circumstances where it is not crystal clear and there is no previous precedence, you are most certainly correct! But that does not mean you should blindly follow that path when the evidence is so OBVIOUS and the precedent has already been set (vis a vis MS “WINDOWS”).

      Also, note that Apples lawyers (whom I consider to be infinitely more qualified than you) did not take your view when they asked the courts to consider this. Apples’ lawyers are NOT just two-bit lawyers that just happen to throw this request at the courts willy-nilly without any consideration to the OBVIOUSNESS and past precedence of the case!

      Also, how can you NOT be confused with another company using the same nomenclature as Apple? Would you not be confused if Apple also started to sell “Windows” or even worse still, “Windows – 8”? People might well think that Apple was selling the next version of windows even before MS.

    2. In related stories: Amazon just changed the name of their music store to Amazon Tunes, citing that “tunes” is a generic term, and less techie than the current MP3 monicker.

      And McDonald’s has filed a temporary injunction against Apple, citing the confusion caused by people ordering a big Mac and then complaining that they got a hamburger.

  4. Marco,
    Don’t you worry.. your place is safe with me… MacDaddy understands you.
    And about the App Store story… nobody is wrong… time will prove which one (Apple of Amazon) would really make the use of the name. So far Apple is way ahead…
    Let’s see how it will look a year from now… but I will not bug you later to say “told you so… “

  5. What really bothers me about the app store legalities isn’t so much whether or not Apple “owns” the term – it’s become such a part of the vernacular that it is unlikely Apple can prevail in this legal battle. Rather, it is the continued riding of Apple’s coattails by certain companies. To be sure, Amazon has proven to have some skill and sense of innovation. Nonetheless, they, as well as too any others, lacking creativity in the marketing dept, insist on using the app store term. They steal Apple’s style, tech, and ideas, then they plagarize. Apple should have called it the

    “F**k-WindowsGoogleAndroidAmazonSamsungHTCMotorola-Because-They-Are-Unoriginal-Lazy-Ass-Leeches-Creating-Inferior-Products-Store”

    Garaunteed nobody would be stealing that name no matter the hit to advertising recognition. Pathetic.

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