Microsoft hires linguist in 'App Store' dispute with Apple
CNET reports that in its fight to keep Apple from trademarking the name "App Store" for its own mobile marketplace, Microsoft has hired a linguist to testify that the phrase "app store" simply means a store that sells apps, and therefore it should not be used by Apple to talk about its own platform. You can read the whole statement online in PDF form, but basically Microsoft is trying to use every trick in the book (that book being the dictionary in this case) to keep Apple from nailing down a hold on the App Store title.
This isn't the only litigation around the term -- Apple is also going after Amazon for trying to use "Appstore" to name its own marketplace. And I'll throw in one more wrinkle that doesn't seem to have occurred to the lawyers yet: I also heard an echo of "Apple" in the phrase "App Store" or even the term "apps." While it technically comes from "application," of course, I always thought it was pretty lucky for Apple that the first three letters of its name had showed up in the market that's become one of its biggest money makers.
[via Mac Rumors]
