Microsoft files objection to Apple's "App Store" trademark application
The happy holidays are obviously over; the AT&T / Verizon sniping is going to reach a fever pitch soon, and Microsoft wants to deny Apple a trademark.
The latest skirmish in the lawsuit battles comes against Apple's application for a trademark on the term "App Store." Apple had applied for this trademark soon after the original iPhone App Store launched in mid-2008, with the application describing the App Store in almost computer-like terms: "retail store services featuring computer software..."
Microsoft has filed a motion for a summary judgment to deny Apple the App Store trademark. The Monday filing states that "app store is generic for retail store services featuring apps" and suggests that the term cannot be registered. To add insult to injury, the motion quotes Steve Jobs using the term generically to describe "app stores for Android."
The big bad purveyor of Windows states that Apple is preventing other companies from using the term "app store." Part of the motion states that "Microsoft would like the ability to use 'app store' to fairly describe its own retail store services for apps, but Apple asserts that such uses are infringements of its rights...." We'll have to wait and see how this one shakes out.
[via AppleInsider]
