Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) wants the term “App Store” to refer only to its own App Store, and not be a generic term for any company’s online shop for mobile-device software. In January, Microsoft objected, filing papers at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office arguing that the term is generic and Apple shouldn’t be granted a trademark on it. Now Apple has filed a response, explaining why the term App Store should belong to it alone.
The crux of the argument is that there are lots of other “noun plus store” constructions, both online and off. For example, The Container Store is trademarked, and Apple lawyers found plenty of others you may not have heard of, including The Paper Store, The Radiator Store, The Shade Store, and Swag Store.
As to whether the mark is generic, Apple says it isn’t, and notes that plenty of other “arguably descriptive” terms have been trademarked for particular services, including “Books On Tape,” “Vision Center,” “Cash Management Account,” and “The Beef Jerky Outlet.” (Of course, one could just consider those examples evidence of the fact that trademark owners have been overreaching for a long time now, with little or no resistance from the Trademark Office).
In addition, Apple gets in a dig at Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), saying the company should really be familiar with the concept of “genericness” because of its long trademark battle over the term “Windows.” Which, of course, is still trademarked.
The full document is available at TechFlash, which first reported the story.
Hmmm, two wrongs do not make a right…. Apple basically says “You are right MS but others have gotten away with it so why not us too?”……
You are begging the question. It is NOT a wrong as of now. That is what the USPTO has to decide. The fact that the USPTO has in the past provided Trademarks for names such as “Windows” or “Swag Store” indicates that it is not, in fact, wrong.
It’s not that others got away with it… it’s that MS itself got away with it with Windows.
If you use the same meter to judge whether Microsoft would have kept their trademark on that, Apple would keep the App Store too.