Microsoft Fights Apple Trademark On 'App Store'

See update below
--
Microsoft is fighting Apple over two words: "app store."

Apple filed an application in 2008, the same year it launched its iTunes App Store and the iPhone 3G, to trademark the term "app store." Nearly a year after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office allowed any opposition to the application to be filed, Microsoft is now disputing the proposed trademark, claiming that the term is a generic one and that "app store" should "continue to be available for use by all without fear of reprisal by Apple." (See Microsoft's filing.)

"An 'app store' is an 'app store'," Russell Pangborn, Microsoft's associate general counsel, said, according to the BBC. "Like 'shoe store' or 'toy store', it is a generic term that is commonly used by companies, governments and individuals that offer apps."

Apple's application specifies that the phrase describes "retail store services featuring computer software for use on handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics," among other offerings.

The Cupertino company stands by its claim, noting "the vastly predominant usage of the expression 'app store' in trade press is as a reference to Apple's extraordinarily well-known APP STORE mark and the services rendered by Apple thereunder."

UPDATE: According to a post on Y Combinator which details the findings of searches on Google Trends and Google Ngram, "it wasn't until 2008 when the term 'App Store' started entering common parlance. This coincides with Apple's introduction of its 'App Store'."

The post adds, "Ngram data shows no usage of 'App Store' or 'app store' from the time of 1800 to 2008. I was suspicious of this, but using the terms 'app,store' separately produced lots of data points. My tentative hypothesis is that Ngram is using data that existed before the App Store went public and thus will not show up in Ngram."

Comments

[jamesworner]

06:10 AM on 03/03/2011

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[Prateek Panchal]

07:20 AM on 01/20/2011

I truly convinced by Microsoft...... you can not have copyrights for such a term. Everyone can use it.

Thanks for sharing.

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[Neophyte]

07:26 PM on 01/16/2011

Steve Ballmer should concern himself with these two words: "Great products".

[KarateKid]

11:40 PM on 01/16/2011

Bingo.

[GameGuru59]

06:42 PM on 01/16/2011

"app store" is clearly short for "application store". It is used in general language to mean services beyond what Apple provides. Apple's claim to it should be tossed out. Its beyond them now. Its like IBM trying to claim the word PC nowadays.

[KarateKid]

11:40 PM on 01/16/2011

Not to me. Whenever I hear the term, I think of Apple.

[JohnUSA]

06:04 PM on 01/16/2011

Windows is a common word too. And so is Apple.

[TXCiclista]

02:14 PM on 01/16/2011

Apple should just have TM'ed "app."

[Ylmaz Kaba]

11:35 AM on 01/15/2011

http://cs-turkey.blogcu.com
Apple store, Apps store - similarity to the original trademark helps their case.

[richj45]

09:14 AM on 01/15/2011

Its like a fight between a rat and a snake.. I don't care who wins they both sux, and charge too much.. Use Linux it rocks...

[The Rewd]

07:44 PM on 01/14/2011

Knowing Steve Jobs I thought the two words were going to be "and" and "the".

[TexasDem0]

05:23 PM on 01/14/2011

No one used the word "bicycle" until it was invented.
Substitute any other new invention, system, article, etc.for "bicycle."

[bangagong]

12:47 PM on 01/16/2011

I agree. Apples claim should have been tossed out at the start.

[KarateKid]

11:42 PM on 01/16/2011

Did anyone use the term "App store" before Apple coined the term?

[Tryandkeepupwillyou]

01:24 PM on 01/14/2011

Clearly Microsoft should be able to have their own "app" store. I think they might even get a few apps that work some of the time for some configurations and if they can wrap it up with some restrictive marketing agreements I could see it being as big a success as the zune. Why not just call it the "windoz mobile application environment purchasing center" (note the spelling of windoz it could be trademarked because I used a "Z"...get it.)

[slavsrule]

05:08 AM on 01/14/2011

The term was not commonly used before it's introduction by Apple. Soooo............
Apple store, Apps store - similarity to the original trademark helps their case.

Which is just another phase of the competitive battle between two highly successful companies. I just wish the money being spent on lawyers was going toward R&D and product refinement. Since I use both systems, I have some suggestions on where they would do well to spend it.

[bangagong]

12:50 PM on 01/16/2011

App has been short for application since the term application came into being! I've been naming program folders "apps.graphics," apps.utilities," "apps.biz," sincce the mid 90's.

[robmclaughjr]

12:10 AM on 01/14/2011

Steve Jobs was wasting his time back in 2008 when they chose the name "app store" to the risky new idea of having independent programmers develop profitable "apps" for the new Apple iPhone "store". Jobs should understand that creating a new product that is very profitable automatically gives Microsoft the right to use the intellectual property for their own use like they did with Windows copying the Mac OS.

[omg wtf lol bbq]

02:46 AM on 01/14/2011

Except that the Microsoft lawsuit only deals with desktop operating systems and not portable devices. Otherwise, Windows Mobile would have been a direct copy of Newton.

[MissAustenRegrets]

09:36 PM on 01/13/2011

Give it up, Apple. It's too late; it would be like asking to own the word Kleenex, which is actually a product name but people use it all the time to mean "tissue." Try and stop it. Walled garden.

[AntonioVTorres]

09:46 PM on 01/13/2011

Yes and no. The Kleenex trademark came before the usage. With "app store", the usage is generic, just two words slapped together. It's more like Kleenex trying to trademark "tissue paper".

[KarateKid]

11:44 PM on 01/16/2011

How about Vaseline? Jell-O? Along with Kleenex, it is a trademarked commodity.

[Randall Bart]

06:22 PM on 01/13/2011

The term "app store" was rare before the existence of stores specializing in apps. Similarly, the term "computer store" was rare before 1976. Putting two words together to produce an obvious meaning does not constitute a trade mark.

[bangagong]

12:54 PM on 01/16/2011

Try telling that to the Apple Gods®.

[KarateKid]

11:45 PM on 01/16/2011

A lot of generic names are trademarked. You say App Store was rarely used. Who used it?