“The hype surrounding the Kindle Fire appears to have caught Apple’s attention,” Jeff Roberts reports for paidContent. “The iPad maker cited Amazon’s gadget and added a new claim in an amended complaint it filed yesterday as part of its on-going quest to own the phrase ‘app store.'”
“In the new filing, Apple calls attention to its rival’s use of ‘Amazon Appstore’ to market the Kindle File which was announced in September,” Roberts reports. “Apple had filed its original complaint last spring after Amazon used the phrase ‘Appstore for Android’ to publicize its phone-based app store. Apple has now also tacked on a new false advertising claim to its earlier allegations of trademark infringement and unfair competition.”
Roberts reports, “Although a claim to own ‘app store’ might strike some as far-fetched, Apple has long been a master of using different forms of intellectual property to wrap a legal force field around its products. In its high profile patent campaign against Samsung, for instance, Apple has not only accused the Korean company of infringing its utility patents but also its design patents and trade dress as well.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Before Apple used “App Store,” nobody used “App Store.” Case closed.
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Certainly, in all the years I’ve been using computers, PC’s from around ’90-95, then Macs professionally up to ’03, and personally since, it wasn’t until Apple launched the App Store with the 3G iPhone that I became properly aware of the term. I always used ‘program’ in connection with Photoshop, Illustrator or Quark, and utility for any small helper programs. I try fail to see how anyone can claim that ‘app’ was in common usage before Apple coined it. Bit like William Gibson having to go to court and fight like fury to stop some business claiming copyright on the term ‘cyberspace’, when Gibson had invented the term in the early ’80’s. Opportunistic assholes.
Sorry pal, but I’ve been a LONG time Pocket PC user and I and all of the other PPC users used the word “app” long before iPhone came. “app store” is too generic of a term and from what I remember, a certain judge handling the dispute agrees.
Did any of them set up an “app store”? No? Funny, Apple does something first and people copy – where have I seen that script before?
Oh, and “Windows” is too generic of a term to be trademarked, isn’t it? Whoops.
And whatever Amazon calls it, their place for apps to be sold includes horrendously restrictive terms & conditions which no sane developer should agree to. Don’t be duped by the online equivalent to Wal-Mart.
Not to mention “Word.” How much more common and generic a name can you give a word processor. Even “Excel” is just a common word. “Amazon” is a river or a warrior woman. The list goes on. App Store started with Apple. The argument that it is generic is specious.
If the term ‘App Store’ was truly in frequent use before Apple launched their App Store, then presumably there are a lot of uses of that term that pre-date Apple’s use of it.
Does anybody have any internet links or printed articles that show the term being used at an earlier date ?
I’ve yet to see one.
JoJo, that’s a load of BULLSHIT. They were never called “Apps” on the Pocket PC. You’re either lying or repeating a lie.
Really, JoJo? PCs ran “programs” or “executables”. Macs ran applications. Are you sure you referred to programs for your Pocket PC as “apps”?
I remember using and hearing the term “apps” years ago. At a few places i worked we used the term app developer.
I had not heard of an “app store” until apple started using it however.
Apple didn’t come up with the term. The CEO of salesforce.com came up with it, pitched an idea to Steve and then gave apple the domain appstore.com. I remember the guy saying in 2006 that he thought a lot of Steve. I dont even think he charged Steve any money for the domain I believe it was a gift.
Give em an Inch, they take a Yard, Give em a Yard they take a Mile.
Here we go again, when will it end.
When will we See a Judge in this Country Start using His Common Sense and Start Shutting Down all the Copy Cats ala “AMAZON” Come on.
NOBODY WAS USING APPSTORE/APP STORE UNTIL APPLE MADE IT THE NORM.
“Apple has long been a master of using different forms of intellectual property to wrap a legal force field around its products.”
Huh? Microscum nearly copied Apple into oblivion, and now Gargle are trying to do the same. I don’t see any mastery happening.
Plus his phrasing is smearing Apple in a completely inappropriate manner. The Samdung situation isn’t a matter of Apple being a master of anything around IP legality issues — it’s a matter of Samdung’s own lawyer not being able to tell the difference at a distance of only TEN FEET!
Surely they can object to rivals using App Store as being too close to Apple Store?
All I can say is: Good for you Apple.
For decades the PC industry has copied Apple’s lead. Prior to Jobs’ return Apple management didn’t have the cajones to fight back.
Now Apple has the resources, intellectual, human and financial, to make life very uncomfortable for those that do nothing but ride the coattails of others. There’s an app for that.
Ayn Rand described this. There are true giants and innovators and then there are the second handers, whose lack of imagination and creativity anchor society
to stagnate and fester. Does anyone truly doubt who is
who as this plays out?
There is a video of Steve Jobs using the term ‘apps’ when addressing his sales team at NeXT. He has been using the term for eons.
Electro, Steve used Apps in the late 80s, decades ago, not eons ago.
In the PC world, it has always been Programs and Files, whereas in the Macintosh world it was Applications and Documents. Mac & App are logical abbreviations that flow from the original terms in use at Apple.