U.S. judge unimpressed with Apple ‘App Store’ trademark claim

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a bid by Apple to immediately stop Amazon.com from calling its online shop for smartphone programs an "App Store."

US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton didn't buy Apple's argument that the phrase "App Store" was tantamount to a trademark, which it has applied for.

She ruled that Apple has not established that its "App Store" mark is famous in the sense of being "prominent" and "renowned."

"The evidence does show that Apple has spent a great deal of money on advertising and publicity, and has sold/provided/furnished a large number of apps from its App Store," Hamilton wrote in her ruling.

"However, there is also evidence that the term 'app store' is used by other companies as a descriptive term for a place to obtain software applications for mobile devices."

Regarding Apple's argument that the name "Amazon Appstore for Android" would cause confusion in the minds of consumers, the judge concluded that the phrase "App Store" was more "descriptive than it is distinctive."

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/07/u-s-judge-unimpressed-with-apple-app-store-trademark-claim/

and now everyone uses it. they should have trademarked it before they used it then maybe they'd have a case.

;-)