Microsoft & Apple Hire Linguists For Trademark Battle [The Flame War Over The "App Store" Trademark Continues As Tech Giants Turn To Language Experts To Prove Their Point]

Posted on TFTS by Kevin Schram on Wednesday, 30. March 2011 under: Mobile/Cell Phones

In case you haven’t been following this case, Microsoft and Apple are engaged in a battle over Apple’s trademark of the word “App Store”. App Store is Apple’s popular marketplace for third-party apps on their iPhone, and they’ve held the trademark since 2008 when the store launched. Microsoft claims that it’s too generic. Now, to prove their point to the United States Patent and Trademark Office – both companies have hired linguistics experts to prove their point.

Apple fired the first blow with their linguist. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple hired expert Robert Lenoard, who said that Apple’s “App Store” was a proper noun and deserved to be trademarked. Microsoft fired back with expert Ronald Butters, who wrote:

The compound noun app store means simply ‘store at which apps are offered for sale,’ which is merely a definition of the thing itself—a generic characterization.

This case has an aftermath beyond Microsoft and Apple. Amazon recently launched their app store, which they call – point blank – the Amazon Appstore. Apple is suing Amazon after they claim they sent three cease and desist orders to Amazon.

Mobile operating systems have had to come up with unique names for their app store with Apple holding the App Store trademark. Android’s is called the ‘Android Market’. RIM’s is called ‘BlackBerry App World’. Palm’s is called ‘App Catalog’.

Obviously, the iPhone is a high profile device and everybody knows from the TV commercials that it runs “apps”. They also know that the iPhone has an “app store”. Apple is trying to keep up appearances that if you want the App Store experience, you can only get it from the Apple iPhone.

What do you think about this trademark battle? Give us your take in the comments section.