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Apple Drops App Store Trademark Lawsuit

Just a few weeks before the case was set to go to trial, Apple has dropped its trademark lawsuit against Amazon regarding the use of the term “Appstore.” The judge has dismissed the case. PCMag’s Chloe Albanesius reported, “On the fifth anniversary of Apple’s App Store, Cupertino has dropped its lawsuit against Amazon over the […]

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Cynthia Harvey

Jul 10, 2013

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Just a few weeks before the case was set to go to trial, Apple has dropped its trademark lawsuit against Amazon regarding the use of the term “Appstore.” The judge has dismissed the case.

PCMag’s Chloe Albanesius reported, “On the fifth anniversary of Apple’s App Store, Cupertino has dropped its lawsuit against Amazon over the retailer’s use of the term ‘app store.’ California district Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton on Tuesday dismissed the case at the request of both companies. That came after Apple on June 28 ‘issued a covenant to Amazon not to sue,’ according to the filing, allowing Amazon to drop its countersuit.”

Digital Trends quoted Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet, who said, “We no longer see a need to pursue our case. With more than 900,000 apps and 50 billion downloads, customers know where they can purchase their favorite apps.”

Jonathan Stempel with Reuters noted, “Apple began selling applications for mobile devices via its App Store service in July 2008. Amazon launched Amazon Appstore for Android in March 2011. Apple began the lawsuit that month.”

All Things D’s John Paczkowski explained, “Amazon countered that the term ‘app store’ is generic, and that it’s silly for Apple to claim otherwise, when its own executives use it generically. ‘Apple presumably does not contend that its past and current CEOs made false statements regarding 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.'”