Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton today commented that she will probably rule against Apple in its lawsuit to prevent Amazon from using the name "Appstore" to promote its line of Android-based applications. Apple had initially sued the online retailer over use of the name in March of this year.
Hamilton said that no actual demonstration of consumer confusion has been brought to her so far, but that she will review the current court filings before rendering her decision.
We will admit that when we hear the phrase "app store", we're more likely to think of Apple than we will of Amazon, but we're also not likely to mistake the two. If you're using an Android phone or browsing through Amazon when you read "appstore", you will probably know that this isn't Apple's service you're using. Is a space between the two competing terms enough to avoid potential confusion? Can Apple bring enough evidence to the table to cause the judge to rule in their favor? Stay tuned for further developments.
Via BusinessWeek
purplemaizenjm
June 22, 2011 at 5:10pm
for window users that use Amazon applestore, The Apple company it self is not responsible for any returns or any down errors. There are 2 different contracts.
If the Judge does not read the Amazon store's contract carefully, there are going to be a lot of very unsatisfied customers.
She should go in Apple's favor because itunes has different contract and we all agree upon it before we down load... I always make copies of my contracts.
