Microsoft objects to Apple’s ‘App Store’ trademark application

By on Jan 12, 2011 at 8:27 AM
Business January 12, 2011

Microsoft has asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to deny a trademark request by Apple, Inc. on the name “App Store.” The Redmond software giant called the term “generic” and thinks “competitors should be able to use it.” The trademark application for “App Store” is currently listed as pendingin the USPTO’s system; the Cupertino company has already been granted trademark protection on its App Store slogan “there’s an app for that.”

“‘App store’ is a generic name that Apple should not be permitted to usurp for its exclusive use. Competitors should be free to use ‘app store’ to identify their own stores and the services offered in conjunction with those stores,” said a Microsoft representative.

The opposition was filed on January 10th; Apple has yet to publicly comment on Microsoft’s appeal.

Read [PCWorld] Read [Appeal PDF]

Tags:
, , , , , , , ,
40 Comments

Related Articles

  • jay_max

    Microsoft is right on this one…Apple should not be allowed to trademark generic terms.

    • http://www.bgr.com Andrew Munchbach

      I agree. “Windows” is pretty generic too though :)

      • Gaza

        Agreed

      • http://justinpaine.com xxdesmus

        you mean kind of how Apple sues anyone who uses a single lowercase letter? “i” …yeah, that’s retarded.

      • jay_max

        @Andrew. I agree with you on that point also. It’s a tough line to draw. I think the best analogy I’ve heard so far is when Subway tried to trademark the word “footlong”. I believe the application was denied. Had they succeeded, arguably no other food vendor could have sold anything while calling it footlong (hot dogs, hoagies, etc.).

      • Joebutler85

        Windows is trademarked exclusively in the sense of referring to a computer OS. How exactly is that generic and where are all the companies out there clamoring to name their OS’s Windows.

      • http://www.rewdy.com/ A-Rox!

        It only seems generic because we’re so used to hearing it. I don’t think it really is generic at all.

  • CaliKid

    dear microsoft,
    make your own name.
    android made the android market.
    shouldn’t you be able to think, or to lazy?

  • JayToTheMo

    Are you guys serious!? This is completely dumb to me. Android didnt have a problem with it, they just used another name. Windows already has Marketplace, whats wrong with that? With all that money they should just hire someone to think up names for services

    • Anonymous

      I think that Microsoft, as well as ripping off the idea shortly, will want to rip off the name as well.

  • http://davidlevine.posterous.com David Levine

    It took Microsoft a little over two years to come to realization? It’s just like anything else: once something become popular, everyone wants a piece of the pie.

    If Microsoft wants to have an app store, just call it the Microsoft App Store or the Windows Phone App Store. That’s essentially what Amazon did. Or just be creative and call it something else.

  • http://twitter.com/mistercarter7 Mike Gonzalez

    they were the first to even use the word App instead of Application, so why the hell can’t they use it?

    • http://justinpaine.com xxdesmus

      um what? …the term “app” or “apps” (or the nerdy “appz”) has been used for YEARS before Apple started using it for mobile applications on their precious iPhone. Give me a break.

      • Anonymous

        In terms of mobile? It’s the simple names that are memorable. I say apple got there first so why shouldn’t they get the name? Is walmart going to sue my local store that calls itself ‘the food store”?

        You can always say application store or exe store. Don’t try to piggyback on apple marketing.

      • Anonymous

        They shouldn’t get it because it’s too generic (IMO, obviously; the USPTO will give it to Apple because the USPTO is generally some punks). Try to call your car company “Car” and see what happens.

      • JumpTheShark

        Sorry, I understand that you probably discovered smartphones when Apple released one, but some of us have been using mobile apps for a lot longer than that.

        Apple got to you first, because nobody else advertised it to you and you didn’t go looking.

      • Anonymous

        did you use mobile apps? Or mobile Pocket PC programs/Applications. I only heard of Apps as Appz. and that’s from the warez scene.
        it’s not about who’s first at what anyways. Why should Microsoft be allowed to use the word app store to describe their store? they can popularize Proggie if they want to.

      • Anonymous

        Normal people didn’t say, “Check out this cool App”. We used the term Warez for underground.
        The most popular smart phones before 2007 (Blackberry, Palm Treo) didn’t have App Stores.

      • Cheekybastard

        Unless the term has been used “in commerce” (that is, to denote a particular company’s specific product) then it doesn’t matter whether the term already existed. MOST trademarked terms existed before they were TM’d for a particular product. If (and I don’t know the history for this) Apple was the first to use the term “app” in the “app store” setting, then the term is probably trademarkable.

  • dwinsmith

    I don’t remember even hearing the term App Store before Apple used it so…….. Can’t they just stick to Windows Marketplace or whatever it’s called.

  • http://justinpaine.com xxdesmus

    Microsoft has a valid point. The term “app” or “apps” (or the nerdy “appz”) has been used for YEARS before Apple started using it for mobile applications on their precious iPhone. Then again, the patent system in the US is ridiculously screwed up so god only knows what they will decide.

    • http://twitter.com/jaywalkn Jermaine Maine

      Actually the term “app” came from the extension of Applications on Mac. iTunes.app, Mail.app, etc. Its kind of like Microsoft’s .exe extension.

      • http://justinpaine.com xxdesmus

        uh …sure it did.

        Applications …app …yeah, no clear link between those two things. It must have been the obscure .app extension on that obscure Mac operating system. I find that extremely unlikely to be the reason people shortened “Application” to “app”.

    • Cheekybastard

      Trademarks have no bearing on how screwed up the Patent system is.

      But there’s no reason why something “generic” can’t be trademarked when a company is the first to do so “in commerce.” For instance, Southern California Gas Company for years used the trademarked term, “The Gas Company.” I don’t see anyone arguing that some other company has been using the term “app store” before Apple to sell their products, or that this term (“app store” not just “app”) was in use before Apple’s. Can someone point to a specific App Store using that exact term before Apple?

  • http://twitter.com/rtorcato Richard Torcato

    I dunno I think Office and Windows are pretty generic too, but no way MSFT would let anyone use those words as app names.

    • jay_max

      You’ve heard of Open Office, right? and Word Perfect Office?

    • Laguna

      Ehhh.. NEVER heard of “Open Office”??

      Of course all Fanboys thinks that what MSFT does is wrong, no matter what they do. But I TOTALY agree, Apple should not trademark a common word used ages before the iPhone came on market. It’s not that MSFT use the term Microsoft App Store, they use the name Windows Marketplace, but it is still an app store for, a store where you by apps for your Windows Phone.
      Samsung also have their app store, for their TV’s and Bada phones.
      You fans of Apple should soon realize that app store is a common word used by people no matter what the real name of the app store realy is, so therefor apple should not me able to Trademark the App Store, but continue using it as they do now, iPhone App Store.. And keep it like that..
      I mean, no one would like to use iPhone App Store for THEIR product.. Imagine MSFT calling it Windows iPhone App Store…? hehehehe..

  • Anonymous

    Another ludicrous argument from the #1 “Me Too” company on the planet. Can’t MS do anything original anymore?

  • Anonymous

    I like how Apple is getting a little taste of their own medicine with their frivolous patent tactics and all their suing. Microsoft may not have a spot free record themselves, but they do have the money to legitimently harass Apple.

  • Private Citizen

    I’m trademarking the following:

    App Shop
    App Carnival
    App Exchange
    App Terminal
    App Station
    App Central
    App Depot
    App Bazaar
    App Center
    App Galaxy
    App Universe
    App Planet
    App Space
    App Superstore
    App Supermarket
    App Marketplace
    App Kiosk
    App Warehouse
    App Library
    App Convenience
    App Department

    How much is this going to run me?

  • yoinks

    I wonder how much legal squabbles like this add to the price of products? This one hardly seems worth it (other than for the lawyers).

  • Anonymous

    Apple made the slogan App a common household name. I hear people who don’t know jack about anything use the word App liberally now since the iPhone came out in 2007.

    Should they trademark it? Thats up to du govment. But they do deserve props for making the word App and App Store popular.

    • Laguna

      Hello!!??
      Anybody home..?

      Even if YOU have’nt notised the name App Store before you got your iPhone it has been used on the internet ages before that, for stores providing apps to devices… Get over it, it can’t be trademarked just because some people have had memory loss, and suddenly NOW are aaware of the term app store

  • LuckyDayJP

    This has nothing to do with the term being generic. Windows is generic, ya, that’s fine. They key factor is whether it is clearly descriptive (which would make it unregisterable). Windows is fine because it’s not an actual window. I.e. you couldn’t trademark the word “car” in association with an actual car.

    The question is whether there is such a word as app (and it is in the dictionary) and therefore whether app store is clearly descriptive of an application store. If so, than Apple will likely not succeed.

    And this is trademark law, not patent law.

    • LuckyDayJP

      Also, Microsoft can think of their own name. They want to stop this because they don’t want a precedent set. Obviously if they are opposing Apple’s mark they aren’t considering using it themselves. Companies don’t often use names they can’t trademark.

      • Laguna

        MSFT is not asking for a new name to something… They already have their name, Windows Marketplace for Windows Phone.. SO please, get over those stupid arguments..
        It is just a case of common knowledge that app store is an application store, wether it is for a Android phone, a Apple phone, a Samsung TV, Sony TV or whatever..
        So what MSFT is doing here is “talking for everybody”.. Cause the app store should not be “locked” to be used only by one company.. Like grocery store should not be “locked”..!!

  • Michaelkerti307

    Gotta agree with Microsoft on this one. Apple is way too greedy.

  • Mprobins

    Dictionary.com:

    app  /æp/ Show Spelled
    [ap] Show IPA

    –noun Computers Informal .
    an application; application program.

    ————————————————————————–

    Origin:
    1985–90; by shortening

  • http://www.rewdy.com/ A-Rox!

    I agree with Microsoft. “Application” is a relatively universal name for programs on computing systems. “App” is also a relatively universal shortening of it. That name, in my opinion, IS too generic. Go Microsoft.

  • http://twitter.com/HomeServerLand Home Server Land

    It’s just a store that sells apps

blog comments powered by Disqus