Apple and Amazon Drop "App Store" Lawsuits

[Andy Chalk]

Apple and Amazon Drop "App Store" Lawsuits

Apple says it no longer sees a need to pursue its lawsuit against Amazon's use of "Appstore," leading Amazon to drop its counter-suit.

Apple filed suit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108665-Its-Apple-vs-Amazon-Over-Appstore] against Amazon in 2011, claiming that Amazon's use of "Appstore" for its Android application portal infringed upon Apple's "App Store" trademark. Apple claimed that the name would "confuse and mislead consumers," and also that Amazon had "unlawfully used the App Store mark to solicit software developers." But now, for one reason or another, Apple has seen fit to let the matter drop, and Amazon has followed suit.

According to Reuters, Apple has agreed not to pursue further legal action against Amazon over its use of the name. "We no longer see a need to pursue our case," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said. "With more than 900,000 apps and 50 billion downloads, customers know where they can purchase their favorite apps."

Amazon, meanwhile, crowed that Apple had decided to "unilaterally abandon the case," which I'm guessing is legalese for "running up the white flag." Amazon rep Mary Osako said the company was "gratified" by the outcome, adding, "We look forward to continuing our focus on delivering the best possible appstore experience to customers and developers."

It's not clear why Apple decided to drop the case but the common use of "app store" as a generic term is very likely at the root of it. That was actually one of the key points of Amazon's defense in the matter: It noted in a court filing that both Apple CEO Tim Cook and former CEO Steve Jobs had referred generically to "app stores" in the past.

Source: Reuters [http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/us-apple-amazon-appstore-lawsuit-idUSBRE9680TT20130709]



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[KeyMaster45]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that it may have had something to do with apple losing it's anti-trust lawsuit [http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE9690GE20130710]. Might not, but a big legal blow like that might have finally cowed their rabid legal department.

 

[Baneat]

"We no longer see a need to pursue our case," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said. "With more than 900,000 apps and 50 billion downloads, customers know where they can purchase their favorite apps."

It's not like you can even access the amazon appstore on the same devices as the ones you can access the apple one on, yeah? All very silly.

 

[Arawn]

How would "AMAZON App Store" confuse people? If you have an Apple product doesn't it link you to their services? (I'm sorry I don't own such a device so I can only guess it's functionality) True they could have called it "marketplace", perhaps "shop", or the more obvious "Application store". But instead they called it what others would undoubtedly call it; an app store. Simple, effective, efficient. Apple suing over it seems petty if anything. Good thing they lost, soon they'll sue over people calling their program apps, or even the whole concept of selling apps to their devices via electronic means.

 

[RicoADF]

Theres no way they would win and they knew it, sounds like they hoped they could scare Amazon into giving up but when they fought back Apple had to admit defeat before the courts hit them. App Store is literally just short for Application Store, both of which is common language and thus cannot be trademarked. Sounds like Apple was worried that pushing it would lose them their TM.