Microsoft objects to Apple's "App Store" trademark application - Page 3

if apple has trademarked 'app' or 'apps' then i would go with apple. if not, then i agree with MS

they could call it the 'mac store' but then get sued by maxtor....

Don't forget this classic: Visual InterDev


Copyright and trademarks are different beasts.

You can only trademark a term for a specific industry or type of product.

A trademark for a hypothetical Lumberjack truck model wouldn't prevent some other company from having a separate trademark for Lumberjack flannel shirts or boots or thermoses* -- or even paper towels.

The trademark lawsuit between the (then) Apple Computer and Apple Records started when Apple Computer began to move into music, because Apple Records felt they owned the "Apple" trademark in that niche or industry.

* Edit: On reflection, "Thermos" is already trademarked.

Doesn't matter anymore if this gets dismissed or not. The APP STORE IS NOW SYNONYMOUS WITH APPLE. When people hear App Store, they think of Apple.

used to be 'think different'
now its 'think douchebag'

has been one which Apple used from the beginning to describe actionable computer software. Long before OS X or iOS ... if you were having a conversation with a not-Mac user and used the term "application" the odds were they'd look at you and say "huh?" Then you'd say .. "Program" and they'd understand what you were referring to.

"Alias" anyone? Use the term "shortcut" and anyone knows of what you speak.

During the 90's ... M$ and its user community herd did everything in their power to have Apple go the way of Amiga and the rest or render it marginalized.

So let them have their "Program" store. Everyone knows what it means. Right?

Microsoft products evolve around generic terms!! Windows, Office, Word, and Internet Explorer. If MS really think it is generic, where were they all these years? It's first come first serve when it comes to trademarks.

For Apple, Microsoft is a bad case of fleas!

After this reply and several others, I think I'm going to apply for a trademark for the phrase "comment thread sarcasm."

Microsoft should just call it the "Napp Store" because that's what they have been doing for the last 5 years.

"You're Fired!"

APPLES TRADEMARKS\tGENERIC TERM(S)

AirMac®\twireless hardware/software solution
AirPlay®\tapplication program
AirPort®\twireless hardware/software solution
AirPort Express®\twireless hardware/software solution
AirPort Extreme®\twireless hardware/software solution
AirTunes®\tapplication program
A.Pack®\tsoftware feature
Aperture®\tapplication program
Apple®\tcomputers, computer software, computer peripherals, etc.
Apple logo®\t
Apple IIGS\tcomputer
AppleCAT®\tapplication program
AppleCD SC®\tCD-ROM drive
Apple Cinema Display®\tcomputer monitor
AppleFund\treimbursement program
AppleLink\tcommunication network/computer software
Apple Media Series\ttraining materials
Apple Remote Desktop\tremote desktop software
AppleScript®\tapplication program
AppleScript Studio®\tdevelopment software
AppleShare®\tserver software
Apple Studio Display\tcomputer monitor
AppleTalk®\tnetwork system
Apple TechStep\tdiagnostic software
Apple TV®\tdigital media extender
AppleVision\tcomputer display
AppleWorks®\tapplication program


...


http://www.apple.com/legal/trademark/appletmlist.html

HAHAHAHA!
This makes Microsoft seem so juvenile, they're like that little kid tattling to mommy that the other kids wont let them play with their toys.

How do you analyze "wooden chair" under that test? Could it be a valid trademark?

Apple has been calling all their programs (Applications), Apps since day one.

Everyone else has "Programs".

Its not that single words are generic, its the combination that is still generic in App Store. I certainly use app store to refer to other app stores. The only variance is my capitalization of Apples App Store.

No one says Internet Explorer to mean Safari or Firefox. Speaking of, fire and fox are examples of generic words creating a unique term. Internet Explorer isnt as catchy but its just as unique.

Now Office and Word have something different going on. They are often used as genericized trademarks, like Coke, Klennex or Band-Aid, because of their dominant position, but the words themselves werent a generic and all encompassing term when first used in the product. on top of that, They also contain Microsoft, which makes them unique.

MS probably has no issue with Mac App Store as its clear what the term refers to. Its the iOS App Store which is only written as App Store that will be on concern. I think MS has a solid case here.

The Walled Garden™

So motive is irrelevant?

I would strongly disagree as I'm not aware of App Store being in use before Apple opened The App Store. You use it now, only because they created it and have NOT YET enforced their trademark in the current derivative situations.

I think the precedences of Windows, Word and Office being upheld is previous challenges (remember Lindows) bode very well for Apple in this case. I think there is Zero chance of a summary judgement or even a restraining order.

Really? The Mac versions of Office have generally had the more innovative features before Windows. Excel and Word both gestated on the Mac first and then moved to Windows. Of course Microsoft hasn't always been interested in promoting their Mac applications, but the Mac Business Units is one of the more profitable units within Microsoft.


I dunno, Microsoft has had their share of bombs. Office hasn't always been the best experience and has had significant growing pains in the past.

Windows biggest problem is it's early evolution was in a single user non-networked environment, so developers (including Microsoft) developed lots of bad habits that eventually came back to bite them.

It's not that the Unix guys were that much smarter or more prescient than Microsoft, much of Unix's early development happened on machines that were big and expensive and often shared. If a rouge application or user took the whole machine down, the expense involved was significant, so there was an early focus on stability and security from a practical cost perspective - not some sort of moral superiority over other manufacturers like Microsoft that lots of Unix weenies tend to claim. The early days of Unix weren't exactly pretty either! Microsoft's big problem is networking and mutli-user utilization of personal computers didn't really become important until they had this large momentum of poorly architected software and cadres of programmers that were used to being coddled.

This is why I see the App Store on the iPhone and now Mac OSX as huge - the focus has shifted from pleasing the developer at all costs with backwards compatibility and support for poorly ported applications to a customer-first focus.

Whatever the name, the Apple App Store is a huge shift in thinking, and even if you don't personally buy into it, just like Android wouldn't exist without the iPhone, much of the future application quality for all operating systems will improve with Apple's relentless focus on the end user experience.

I've been a technologist for a long time, and I'm ashamed to admit that in the past, even I have had a derogatory view of the "users" - and that's just wrong. Technology doesn't exist for the sake of technology. Yes, geeks like us think it's cool, but we are in the minority. For the majority, these things are just tools - and that's OK! Currently Apple is the only company who's primary focus is on the customer - and boy is this rubbing the "tech elite" the wrong way. The sacred cow is under attack! What really amuses me is all the "open" advocates who call for Apple to basically conform to the traditions. Talk about ironic! Apple is offering more choice, but because it doesn't fit their philosophical view of the world it must be destroyed - classic hypocrisy.

App is generic - the combination of "App Store" isn't. It could go either way. MS wouldn't have filed if they didn't think they at least had a choice.

Although I'm with an earlier poster - I doubt it will benefit MS much, and in the end it just brings more attention to Apple.

I see what youre saying. I did a Google search for app store and used various additions like blackberry and java with dates up to 2007 and found plenty of sites that use the term App Store. I cant say if they started using the term before or after Apple did. They were using Crackberry AppStore and other such names which are not generic.

Worst case scenario Apple has to make it The App Store or Apple App Store, best case is it stays the same.

As for Windows, Word and Office I dont see how those are equivalent examples. Its like saying Apple is a generic term, but it cant be confused with any other computer product at the time so its unique in that sense. Same goes for Windows, and I already noted that the name for Office and Word are simply colloquial shortenings of Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word. I dont think MS uses just Office or Word to advertise that suite or app.

But they (MS) do us the generic (without MS) and they protect it. That is why i brought up Lindows. This was a case where one of (I forget which one) the early Linux UI's tried to use the name Lindows because Window was a generic term and they were NOT MS Windows (or or MS Lindows). The courts upheld MS position and disallowed the use of Lindows as 'too confusing to the user' even though Window is generic in the language and arguably generic in the UI realm going back to Xerox PARC (or further).

The use of '.app' and 'app' actually goes back much further than OS X and started with NeXTSTEP years earlier. However, 'application' and 'app' (whether in any particular dictionary or not) have been fairly common terms for considerably longer. Yet, 'App Store' should probably be granted trademark protection since this particular phrase was not common before 2008 and clearly identifies Apple's application stores specifically.

I concede. You win this debate.


until next time.

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If you tried to start up a computer business called Apple, I think you'd find that this word was already trademarked in that context. If on the other hand your business sold fruit, you probably would have no problem using the word in the name. Likewise, Apple might be able to trademark the word app in the context of selling computer applications online, but that doesn't mean that they'd gain any control over its use in other contexts.

But here today's irony: In order for Apple to claim a trademark on use of the word app, they had to file an app.

Too bad they didn't object when the patent was filed years ago--oh, that's right, they thought the iPhone would fail and it wasn't worth their time. Completely consistent with their way of doing business: wait for someone else to innovate and succeed, then follow with copycat products.

In related news, Microsoft sues to void the patent on all products starting with a lower case "i" citing the letter's extensive use as the beginning of thousands of words in English and other languages.

Dumbo (Microsoft) is always a "day late and a dollar short"!

How many commercial examples are about the "generic" name app before jan 2007?
(other than Apple ecosystem)

Maybe that the IT professionals distinction between "system software" and "application software" provides enough evidence of the generic use of the simple word "applications" related to particular programs. But how many manuals do explained this not-so-clear distinction?
And wasn't "application" the shortening for "application software"?


The shortening APP (not Ap, neither Appl, APPLI, Applic) was really so generic? How many manuals or mainstream commercials usually referred application software as "APP" before 2008?

The whole concept of the "App Store" was innovative in many ways and has established a new standard. Nokia, Blackberry, Palm, Open Handset Alliance struggled to have something really comparable.
So innovative that now we have also a "Mac" App Store that wasn't there before.
A 2005 online software store (Ovi? Amazon? Cnet?) differed from a 2011 application store.
Steve Jobs really needed to refer to others application stores as "app store".

And patently the Open Handset Alliance "App Marketplace" sells also software that matches the definition of "system software": the new term "APP" coined from Apple is more successful and widespread then "program" itself, so now it may also refer to something that is not "application software" from any "old" perspective.


Any case, "Burghy Store" or "FacialTiss" can have trademarks? An "Astro Store" who will sell spare parts for commercial space ship is trademarkable?


Want MS his own application store? May call it Application Mall...

Want Microsoft do an inusitate distinction between desktop "program" and Web "app"? May call them "Desks" and "Webs" or whatever else and spend five hundred millions dollars in commercial ads pointing this matter rather than Mac price. So simple.


P.S.: I'm a native speaker of italian and I don't speak english very well: forgive me errors and misspelling, please.

well i don't know about a 'dollar short'.....

Since when did microsoft care about the term "App"
on Windows it's called "Programs" no one in the windows pc world calls it app (Application)
even though Application is technically the right term.

Just shut up and call yours the "prog store"

Also for those who may not be aware: Apple used the term Applications/Trash etc which is why Windows labels it's trash "Recycle" and Applications "Programs"

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Ha! FTW!

Are you aware that the "thermos" has already been identified as the "worlds smartest invention"? When told of that during a press conference, a reporter said... "How can that be? ... All it does is keep hot things hot and cold thinge cold"? .... to which the inventor replied ...."Yes, ... but how does it know?" ....

MS is good for the average user. I'm running a dual hexcore 64bit with windows 7.

It's not that good.

Similar to the lawsuit years ago between Lexis-Nexis and Lexus (the car). The judge basically said there is no way someone would confuse the two.

As for my comments about "Internet Explorer" and such... I was joking.

Funny how all of those came out after 2008...

Oh, I'm sorry, did I suddenly make you look even more clueless?

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If apple had tried to trademark "Application Store" then Microsoft would be correct, but "App Store" is a Apple variant.

It is like the difference between "Motor Bike" and "Mo bike".. I would think. By shortening it apple made it catchy and so they should get to trademark it.

Just my 2 cents ...

What about "App Store"? Apple didn't try to trademark just the word "App".