Amazon Asks Judge to Throw Out Apple's Lawsuit for "App Store" Name; Plus Bonus Story

[dgstorm]

You likely forgot about this one. We sure did. With all the crazy lawsuits that Apple has been spamming the court system with, it was easy to do. This particular case was one of their sillier ones. Way back in the middle of 2011 Apple sued Amazon for naming their app store, "the Amazon Appstore."

Apparently, Apple's lawyers believe that this name is too close to their "App Store" name, and that Amazon was using this as deceptive advertising to lure unsuspecting customers away from Apple. Of course, Apple did what their lawyers really love to do, they sued amazon over trademark infringement. The case has only just now hit the courts, and Amazon just filed a motion to have the case thrown out. Here's a quote with the humorous details,

But in a filing on Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, Amazon said the term "app store" has become so generic that its use could not constitute false advertising.

Amazon added that even Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and his predecessor Steve Jobs have used the term to discuss rivals, with Cook having commented on "the number of app stores out there" and Jobs referring to the "four app stores on Android."

"Apple presumably does not contend that its past and current CEOs made false statements regarding to those other app stores to thousands of investors in earnings calls," Amazon said.

"To the contrary, the use of the term 'app store' to refer to stores selling apps is commonplace in the industry."

Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman, declined to comment.

If the judge doesn't laugh/throw this case out, the trial is scheduled for August 19, 2013. The hearing for the motion to dismiss is on October 31st of this year.

Source: Reuters

*Bonus Extra Story: Apple Sues Polish Grocery Store for the A.pl Name*

Here's a story from a couple weeks ago that we found too disgusting to post. However, because this Amazon story cropped up, we thought it worth adding on to make a point. It seems that Apple's lawyers have extended their patent/trademark lawsuits to ridiculous extremes. According to this article from PCMag, Apple is suing a small locally owned online grocery store in Poland because they used A.pl as their website address. What is especially silly about this is that *.pl is simply the internet country code for Poland, so it is really just a clever play on characters for the grocery store.

Apple is also requesting that the Polish Patent Office revoke the store's trademark on the A.pl logo shown above. Apple believes that the grocer is trying to deceptively confuse customers. Apparently these were such egregious affronts to the integrity of Apple's name that the Cupertino company simply had to put the hammer down. Nevermind the fact that a little family owned Polish grocery store doesn't even sell the same products (they do sell apples by the way - the fruit, not the tech gadgets). Talk about picking on the little guy...

It makes you wonder if one day Apple will decide to sue "Mother Nature/God" for Apple trademark infringement. [Editor's note: After looking at these cases, how can any reasonable person still say that Apple is not acting like a patent/trademark troll?]

 

[Big Ry]

I don't even understand the A.pl lawsuit...how is that logo even remotely apple related? Its letters and swirly things. It doesn't even spell "apple"!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[mountainbikermark]

I don't even understand the A.pl lawsuit...how is that logo even remotely apple related? Its letters and swirly things. It doesn't even spell "apple"!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

This is the same company that sued over rectangular with rounded corners, even though it was 4x3 ratio vs 16x9 ratio.

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[tjk629]

I don't get how people can like Apple. They always seem to think their customers are really stupid and have no problem saying it.


- iPhone 4 signal issues. It's your fault for not holding it right
- Anyone who owns a Galaxy phone wanted an iPhone but got "confused" and thought they purchased an iPhone
- Customers think the Amazon App store is iTunes or whatever

Really? How can people love a company that publicly goes around calling them incompetent idiots?

 

[jseah]

Time for me to trot out the story about Apple's lawyers challenging a trademark application by New York City over a logo of an apple.

Apple sues New York over logo - Los Angeles Times

NYC, known as the "Big Apple" for decades, decided to create a new logo for their green initiative back in 2007. The logo was the symbol for infinity morphed into the shape of an apple.



Apple claimed that the logo looks too much like Apple's logo and would cause confusion. In 2008, the city modified the logo to remove the leaf, but leaving the stem. The Trademark board threw out Apple's trademark and awarded the trademarked logo to NYC.

 

[FoxKat]

Just mind-numbing...everything I've read above. And I have to ask myself, what do the Apple fanboys REALLY think of all this? Are they somehow so totally brainwashed or drugged into submission that they believe there is nothing ridiculous about all these frivolous and litigious suits Apple is bringing against anything and everything from a mom & pop food store (doesn't even sell electronic music players or phones), to the largest financial metropolis state in the USA? Or do they really understand but are in complete denial and are simply so taken in by the cult mentality that they've also taken to have multiple wives and dozens of children too?

 

[Big Ry]

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

Lol

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[cobravnm13]

Just mind-numbing...everything I've read above. And I have to ask myself, what do the Apple fanboys REALLY think of all this? Are they somehow so totally brainwashed or drugged into submission that they believe there is nothing ridiculous about all these frivolous and litigious suits Apple is bringing against anything and everything from a mom & pop food store (doesn't even sell electronic music players or phones), to the largest financial metropolis state in the USA? Or do they really understand but are in complete denial and are simply so taken in by the cult mentality that they've also taken to have multiple wives and dozens of children too?

I'd say the latter.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tjk629]

One thing PC users can do that Mac users can't...

Lol

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

The iPhone is a piece of ****, and so is your face.

 

[guitarskoota]

I thought suing for corners was extreme, but wow suing locally owned grocery stores in Poland or whatnot, has apple literally gone off the deep end? This just reaffirms why I will NEVER own an apple product or give them a penny of mine. Some of my friends use apple stuff, and I yell at them, I just don't understand how someone can feel good giving money to such an evil corporation that doesn't even try to hide it. Plus apple products are just a rip off really.

 

[djsiva]

One thing PC users can do that Mac users can't...

Lol

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Hahahaha

 

[delcopa]

Time for me to trot out the story about Apple's lawyers challenging a trademark application by New York City over a logo of an apple.

Apple sues New York over logo - Los Angeles Times

NYC, known as the "Big Apple" for decades, decided to create a new logo for their green initiative back in 2007. The logo was the symbol for infinity morphed into the shape of an apple.

View attachment 56445

Apple claimed that the logo looks too much like Apple's logo and would cause confusion. In 2008, the city modified the logo to remove the leaf, but leaving the stem. The Trademark board threw out Apple's trademark and awarded the trademarked logo to NYC.

Pretty soon grocery stores will have to come up for a new name for that red fruit (wouldn't want to say what it is cause Apple might come after me lol)
NY should go after Apple and make them rename their company they used it first after all. Then guess no one would be smart enough to figure out the new name and the company would go bankrupt

 

[acousticshade]

Remember, if you use iTunes, or buy an apple product you support this nonsense. The reason apple can get away with this is because they have such huge sums of cash that the little guy can't compete and has to back down. We talk about bullying in our schools and it's sad that the richest corporation in the world is basically a giant bully.

Two ways that you as an individual can combat this problem is to boycott everything they sell and tell as many people as you can about the true nature of this company. Reposting and supporting posts such as this on facebook, Twitter and Google+ is going to have an effect sooner or later if we all keep pushing this topic.