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Software The Courts Apple

Apple Hits 15b App Store Downloads, But Loses "App Store" Name Skirmish 183

Coldeagle writes "Apple has been dealt a blow in its 'App Store' trademark case, with a federal judge denying its request for an injunction to stop Amazon from using the term." Apple probably wouldn't trade the name exclusivity it seeks, though, for the success they've found with the business model; the company announced today that the App Store has reached 15 billion downloads.
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Apple Hits 15b App Store Downloads, But Loses "App Store" Name Skirmish

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  • App Store was way too generic for a trademark. That's the problem with coining a term, at least xerox was the name of their company.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Lord Kano ( 13027 )

      If Microsoft was able to successfully defend their "Windows" trademark, Apple had a fighting chance. Fortunately, in this case, sanity won the day.
      It could have just as easily gone in their favor.

      LK

      • in microsoft's case, if you look closely, what they have registered as trademark is "Microsoft Windows". The whole phrase. And that's enforceable. But "windows" on its own, isn't enforceable in the market of graphic interfaces. "well, we're creating a GUI. Which uses windows. Let's call it Windows !"
        And indeed there are other graphic interfaces also called with names containing "Windows". A proeminent exemple should be the unices' "X11 Windows".

        when you look at their other product, Microsoft seems quit fond

        • this prevents them from suing because of these names

          Lindows? [wikipedia.org] I'll grant that it prevents them from suing successfully, but they are more than happy to throw money around to inconvenience the competition.

        • by retchdog ( 1319261 ) on Friday July 08, 2011 @01:17AM (#36691400) Journal

          first, there is no "X11 Windows"; it is the "X Window System (version 11)".

          also all citations i can find indicate that you're wrong about the trademark. for one, look to the devil itself http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/IntellectualProperty/Trademarks/Usage/Windows.aspx [microsoft.com]: "Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries."

          it's an abusive invalid mark and that's how they were able to sue (and decimate) lindows (now linspire). microsoft then settled because they knew they would lose if the case were carried through.

        • in microsoft's case, if you look closely, what they have registered as trademark is "Microsoft Windows". The whole phrase. And that's enforceable. But "windows" on its own, isn't enforceable in the market of graphic interfaces.

          Actually, the last time this question came up I searched the USPTO database. In fact Microsoft does have the single word "Windows" trademarked in addition to the "Microsoft Windows" trademark. You haven't looked closely enough.

          In fact the single word "Windows" is trademarked several times under different categories of product and services.

        • MS do have generic terms as trademarks and according to their Trademark page they did trademark "Windows". http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/IntellectualProperty/Trademarks/EN-US.aspx [microsoft.com]

          Aero
          Arc
          Conker
          Fable
          Georgia
          Groove
          Lips
          Natural
          Nina
          Outlook
          Rare
          Sidewinder
          Surface
          Windows
          Postbox (http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4001:3q4qmv.5.41)


          The reason they got those will likely be because they trademarked them for technology specific groups. When you apply for a trademark it doe
      • Microsoft was not successful in defending the "Windows' trademark. They dodged a bullet. It was looking pretty bad for them, so they settled out of court.

        http://www.silicon.com/technology/software/2004/02/11/lindows-wins-in-us-court-microsoft-ruling-39118328/ [silicon.com]

      • by artor3 ( 1344997 )

        "Windows" is not a generic term for a computer operating system, any more than "Apple" is for a computer company. "App Store" for a store that sells apps, however...

        • by micheas ( 231635 )

          I would think that Windows would count as a generic term for a computer windowing system, but that's just me.

        • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

          "Windows" is not a generic term for a computer operating system....

          Please stop using the word "generic" when you mean "descriptive". They are not the same thing. In fact, they're completely different from a legal perspective (though a term becoming generic can lead to it becoming descriptive). One is a term that was originally a trademark, whereas the other is something being proposed for the first time.

          Descriptive: a mark that describes what the mark covers—for example, the mark "grocery store" fo

      • Huh? Microsoft was not able to defend their Windows trademark.

        They reached a mutually beneficial settlement with Lindows. (Lindows changed their name in exchange for $$.)

    • Yes, God personally intervened to save Amazon from Apple. On the other hand He chose not to stop Amazon's one-click patent.

      • Yes, God personally intervened to save Amazon from Apple. On the other hand He chose not to stop Amazon's one-click patent.

        It has actually been rejected as obvious in Europe by using the correct interpretation as obvious. The person to whom an invention would have to be obvious to be rejected as a patent is assumed to have total and complete knowledge and understanding of all published inventions in the field (in other words more knowledge and understanding than even the cleverest slashdotters) and infinite patience and time to try all combinations of obvious things that can be reasonably expected to lead to the desired goal.

  • by Bloodwine77 ( 913355 ) on Thursday July 07, 2011 @11:01PM (#36690748)

    I thought it was generally accepted that App generally stands for Application. It was a bold move by Apple to try to secure the word, but I am glad they failed.

  • How come common-sense is still manifest? And so often? I've seen like 2-3 times it this year already, this must stop.
  • BTW - I just copyrighted "iStore", maybe (check in your local jurisdiction).

    Also, let's burn "widget store", "got app?", "widget factory", and "buyme*".

    * harkening back to simpler times when one could post a program named "playme" to wreak havoc, for the hacker fun of it (no pop-up dialogs involved.)
    • Copyright != Trademark. Just you go try to trademark iStore and watch how quickly the Apple Legal ninjas jump on you.

      • by Miseph ( 979059 )

        Unless they can show that they have been using the name in trade, he'd probably win. Well, provided he could afford legal representation throughout the many lawsuits and appeals, that is. Most likely they would offer an out of court settlement wherein he receives an undisclosed sum of money and they get the trademark.

  • 15 billion? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by swell ( 195815 )

    "App Store has reached 15 billion downloads."

    And how many of those were the weekly 'updates'? I've noticed that certain companies publish frequent updates to their freeware which are actually reminders to buy the paid version. A single App may be downloaded several times in a month or a year due to these 'updates'. I suppose Apple is counting them as unique downloads.

    • First line of TFA:

      200 million iOS users have downloaded over 15 billion apps from its App Store

      That equates to an average of 75 downloads per iOS user. That's a lot.

      Now I have no idea how many apps a typical iOS user has installed on their phone, but if it's half that I'd be surprised. So sure there are many updates included in this number.

      This site [gigaom.com] has some more statistics on the app's value and prices paid (no idea on the reliability of these numbers, other than that they sound altogether plausible to me). They claim that the average payment amount per app (averaging in the fre

      • by MavEtJu ( 241979 )

        > That equates to an average of 75 downloads per iOS user. That's a lot.

        I just checked mine: I have downloaded a total of 225 apps on my iPhone 3GS, which I bought a year ago.

        Going through the list there are a lot of one-time usage apps on (voting and event related which I checked once or twice and then deleted, games which I played until finished and then removed, documentation/walkthrough for games). Right now I have about 100 apps installed.

        So 75 downloads is easily doable.

        My aunt on the other hand ha

        • I think your aunt is much closer to the average user than you are... this as most /. users are power users.

          And just out of curiousity: how many of those were paid and how many free? The site I linked to mentions that while 3 out of 4 apps on the market are paid apps, 3 out of 4 downloads are free apps.

          Personally I'm a cheapskate Android user; the two dozen or so apps that I have installed are all free. I've yet to pay for an app. The required registration for that is an objection to me.

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • Personally I'm a cheapskate Android user; the two dozen or so apps that I have installed are all free. I've yet to pay for an app.

            And I don't think you're untypical of Android users. That's the major reason why commercial developers prefer to develop for iPhone. iPhone users tend to buy more apps than Android users.

            And in the main I don't think it's an ideological difference, just an economic one. iPhones are more expensive to buy than Androids, so people with more disposable cash are likely to buy iPhone, people who for what ever reason want to spend less money are more likely to buy an Android.

            • A reason for me to buy that particular model (an LG 500P) was that it was about half price of an iPhone... now surely iPhone has the better hardware (particularly screen resolution), but at least I can swap out my battery, and really need so when I go out a day geocaching - GPS eats battery badly!
          • I think your aunt is much closer to the average user than you are... this as most /. users are power users.

            And just out of curiousity: how many of those were paid and how many free? The site I linked to mentions that while 3 out of 4 apps on the market are paid apps, 3 out of 4 downloads are free apps.

            Personally I'm a cheapskate Android user; the two dozen or so apps that I have installed are all free. I've yet to pay for an app. The required registration for that is an objection to me.

            Just checked my iPad - 67 apps installed (not including ones I've deleted). Many games are $0.99. Even a cheapskate can afford that on impulse.

      • by khchung ( 462899 )

        200 million iOS users have downloaded over 15 billion apps from its App Store

        That equates to an average of 75 downloads per iOS user. That's a lot.

        You obviously do not own any iOS device.

        I owned an iPhone for 2 years, and added an iPad a few months ago. I just checked I have 220+ apps on my iTunes, and that's not include apps I have already deleted.

        Not surprisingly, quite a number of them are free apps, but just getting the usual news apps, map apps, social network/communication apps (FB, Skype), some general utilities, and, of course, lots of games will easily get you 50+ downloads already.

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