Microsoft objects to Apple's "App Store" trademark application

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  • Reply 101 of 153
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    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.



    I see what you?re 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 can?t 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 don?t see how those are equivalent examples. It?s like saying Apple is a generic term, but it can?t be confused with any other computer product at the time so it?s 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 don?t think MS uses just Office or Word to advertise that suite or app.
  • Reply 102 of 153
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I see what you?re 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 can?t 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 don?t see how those are equivalent examples. It?s like saying Apple is a generic term, but it can?t be confused with any other computer product at the time so it?s 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 don?t 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).
  • Reply 103 of 153
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gary54 View Post


    ...



    [I]Extension: .app



    "Application program (or executable file) that runs under Mac OS X; runs when double-clicked; similar to a .EXE file in Windows. ...



    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.
  • Reply 104 of 153
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    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).



    I concede. You win this debate.





    ? until next time.
  • Reply 105 of 153
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member
    deleted
  • Reply 106 of 153
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nkhm View Post


    'Apple' isn't a trademark. The Apple Device and the display of the word apple using a specific font, or in a certain context is. There's more to a trade mark than a name.



    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.
  • Reply 107 of 153
    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.
  • Reply 108 of 153
    mj webmj web Posts: 918member
    Dumbo (Microsoft) is always a "day late and a dollar short"!
  • Reply 109 of 153
    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.
  • Reply 110 of 153
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MJ Web View Post


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



    well i don't know about a 'dollar short'.....
  • Reply 111 of 153
    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"
  • Reply 112 of 153
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member
    deleted
  • Reply 113 of 153
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    The Walled Garden?



    Ha! FTW!
  • Reply 114 of 153
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


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



    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?" ....
  • Reply 115 of 153
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by CEOstevie View Post


    But in general, the Windows versions of apps are more full-featured and have fewer bugs compared to the OSX version, if any such version is available.



    And the software written by Microsoft itself (for regular computers, anyways) is always first-rate.



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



    It's not that good.
  • Reply 116 of 153
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    As for Windows, Word and Office I don?t see how those are equivalent examples. It?s like saying Apple is a generic term, but it can?t be confused with any other computer product at the time so it?s unique in that sense.



    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.
  • Reply 117 of 153
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Firefly7475 View Post


    Exchange 2010 OWA (Outlook Web App).



    Windows Phone 7 Apps.



    Bing Maps App SDK.



    Windows Web App Gallery.



    Probably the big one is Office Web Apps. Word Web App, Excel Web App, Powerpoint Web App, OneNote Web App.



    It looks like Microsoft wants to call a "program" that lives on the web an "application" or "app", probably to distinguish them from normal x86 "programs" running on a PC.



    I'm not sure how this trademark would work if Apple won it. Would any other company be allowed to call and application an "app"?



    Maybe Microsoft want to continue to use the word "app" and they may not be able to if Apple wins the trademark. Maybe "App Store" has nothing to do with it???



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



    Oh, I'm sorry, did I suddenly make you look even more clueless?
  • Reply 118 of 153
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member
    deleted
  • Reply 119 of 153
    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 ...
  • Reply 120 of 153
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post


    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/app



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