App Store Trademark Troubles

Apple OS X Lion: App Store Trademark Troubles

Flushed with the success of the App Store for its mobile iOS operating system, Apple has recently introduced the Mac App Store for its desktop OS X operating system. Its software marketplaces are central to Apple's plan of taking a cut of every application bought to run on its operating systems, and way back in 2008 the company applied for a trademark for the name "App Store."

What's happened since then is that every operating system maker and his dog, from Google to Research In Motion to Microsoft, has decided to set up similar software download emporiums for their OSes, and Microsoft for one is not too keen on the idea of having "App Store" as a trademark.

That's why Microsoft filed a motion last week : asking for a summary judgment refusing registration of "App Store" on the grounds that "the combined term 'App Store' is commonly used in the trade, by the general press, by consumers, by Apple's competitors and even by Apple's founder and CEO Steve Jobs, as the generic name for online stores featuring apps ... App store is a generic name that Apple should not be permitted to usurp for its exclusive use."

A tad unfair on Apple, perhaps? After all, until Apple introduced the App Store these sorts of software emporiums were common only in the Linux world, with the predictably un-catchy name of "repositories" or "repos."

Poor Microsoft ......