Judge Tells Apple It Isn’t False Advertising If Amazon Also Calls Its Online Shop An “App Store”

(Amazon0

(Amazon0

So like, you know when you need to buy something? Where do you usually go? A store. And those electronic thingies, those applications, what are those commonly called? Yup, apps! Combine the two and you get — you guessed it! — an app store. Apple thought it had the corner on that name, but a judge just ruled that Amazon is allowed to use the term as well without it constituting false advertising. And likely anyone else selling apps.

Amazon came out on top when a judge dismissed Apple’s claim that its rival was committing false advertising by using the moniker “app store,” reports Bloomberg News. Apple claimed that Amazon’s use of the term to sell software for Android devices was totally horning in on its territory, but the judge disagreed.

She granted Amazon’s request to dismiss the claim, ruling today that she found “no support for the proposition that Amazon has expressly or impliedly communicated that its Appstore for Android possesses the characteristics and qualities that the public has come to expect from the Apple APP Store and/or Apple products.”

In other words, Amazon isn’t trying to be Apple or pass itself off that way, it’s just trying to sell stuff.

Apple filed suit against Amazon last year claiming trademark infringement, false advertising and unfair competition over the use of the term App Store. Apple sought trademark status for the term “app store” in 2008.

Amazon Wins Dismissal of Apple’s False Advertising Claim [Bloomberg News]

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