According to Bloomberg, it looks like Apple’s motion to keep the phrase ‘Appstore’ all to itself is likely to be denied. Apple sued Amazon in March for using the term to describe its newly launched Android application store.
Judge Phyllis Hamilton is presiding over Apple’s case and she said yesterday that it’s not likely the ruling will go in Apple’s favor. Apple’s claim is that customers will be mislead and confused by Amazon’s and Apple’s ‘Appstore.”
Judge Hamilton said that the claim lacked evidence and that she was “troubled by the showing that you’ve made so far, but that’s where you’re likely not to prevail at this early juncture.”
Amazon responded to Apple’s lawsuit with a countersuit, saying that the term is simply too generic and wants the case against them dismissed.
Apple said in a court filing last month that the term is not generic and said that Amazon’s Appstore is not an “app store.”
There are a lot of ongoing disputes between Apple and several other companies over the terms ‘App Store’ and ‘Appstore.’ Both trademarks belong to Apple in Europe, but not in the United States.
The trademark application for both are still waiting for approval in the U.S. Microsoft, Nokia, HTC, and Sony Ericsson tried to get Apple’s European mark invalidated back in May. Microsoft has employed linguists to fight Apple’s trademark application in the United States.
Apple is also in the midst of a legal battle with Samsung over patent infringement relating to their tablets and smartphones. Yesterday, a judge ruled that Samsung had no basis to see the next generation iPad and iPhone that were not even released yet.
Samsung claimed that it needed to see these products as part of the discovery process. Apple also just settled a long court battle with Nokia over patents relating to its touch screen technology.
That settlement is reported to be worth over $600 million to Samsung in terms of licensing.
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