Apple’s recent suit against Amazon for their use of the term ‘App Store,’ as well as several other websites, continues to frustrate me.  You see, I am involved with the filing of  trademarks in the company I work for, and often, things are said to be too “generic.”  App Store, ‘cmon, there is nothing quite as common.  It’s like saying ‘billard parlor’ or ‘smoking den.’

Apple is a company who relies on their intellectual property to protect their designs, formats and in many cases the ‘secret sauce’ which allows them to succeed.  In this case, they’ve gone a bit far.  Microsoft has filed an opposition against the filing with the USPTO, however it will be a bit before that comes to any conclusion.  Until then we just have to wait and see what happens.  Amazon hasn’t seemed to rush to change the name of their store, which houses applications (apps for short), so I’m hoping that this mark gets the official boot from the USPTO and life for those slinging their wares or trying to make a few bucks with their own personally developed apps. 

Source/Image credit:  Huffington Post