Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#11

Post by Locke1689 » Sun, May 22, 2011, 8:48 AM UTC

X-Istence wrote: post #9

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same way I'd respond if I was the CEO of Johnson and Johnson and used BandAid when I should have said self-adhesive bandage (or plaster[1]): We own the mark and use the mark so frequently to describe our product that it was a reasonable slip when discussing entities that certainly are similar to the thing our mark describes. [1] Completely unrelated: My first trip to England, I had to buy some Doc Martins from THE Do…

Paracetamol is the generic drug name all over the world, only the US, Canada, Japan, South-Korea, and Hong Kong uses acetaminophen. Although in Canada they know what paracetamol is at least! So as a Dutch person I was at a pharmacy asking for paracetamol and off course the person behind the counter has absolutely no idea what I am talking about. And directed me to Aleve (naproxen sodium) and Advil (Ibuprofen) and Bay…

It bothered me to no end that the pharmacist had never heard of paracetamol, especially since you have to consider that as a pharmacist you will come in contact with people from all sorts of nationalities.

Maybe, maybe not. Not sure why you assume that. The US is a big place. Also, I'm sure the pharmacist would have known the proper chemical name: para-acetylaminophenol.

And directed me to Aleve (naproxen sodium) and Advil (Ibuprofen) and Bayers (Asparin) all of which are NSAID's which can't be taken with certain drugs, and for some reason they are not nearly as effective.

None of this is strictly correct. There are many cases in which other NSAIDs are more effective. It's true that other NSAIDs have some poor drug interactions, but acetaminophen does as well (alcohol being the most notable and important).

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#12

Post by Locke1689 » Sun, May 22, 2011, 9:07 AM UTC

Blarat wrote: post #10

swernli wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it would help show that the term "app" is generic, but that isn't really Amazon's claim. It's a bit more subtle than that. They are claiming that "app store" is a generic term for a store that sells downloadable applications. Apple isn't denying that either "app" or "store" are generic, but rather that the combination into "app store" has specific meaning when applied to the realm of applications that provide a…

What I really don't understand is how Apple can do this due to the face that Amazon won't (and can't) sell any "Apple app store apps" on their store, so they won't be a competitor. For me it's if a company that produces patches to repair bicycle tubes called their product for "band aid", same idea but different markets.

That's not really a fair analogy because, while the Amazon marketplace may not sell iOS Apps, presumably they sell things which compete in the same market (i.e., solve the same problem). The Band-Aid competitors don't literally sell Band-Aids, but they do sell self-adhesive bandages that compete directly with the market for Band-Aids.

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#13

Post by emitstop » Sun, May 22, 2011, 9:46 AM UTC

I could understand if it was "AppStore" in one word or something to that effect. "App Store" on the other hand is definitely a generic term.

"Application" has been shortened to app for a long time and it is very generic. And I'm not sure how much more generic you could possibly make the word "store".

Even the "noun store" combination is extremely common and basic, (e.g. computer store, grocery store).

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#14

Post by extension » Sun, May 22, 2011, 10:19 AM UTC

So, if you have a store that sells apps, what does Apple expect you to call it? Software Shop? Algorithm Emporium?

If "app store" can be trademarked, surely there must be an alternative that sounds equally or more generic.

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#15

Post by rezahazri » Sun, May 22, 2011, 10:27 AM UTC

i think this is because someone owns the www.appstore.com

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#16

Post by moondowner » Sun, May 22, 2011, 10:31 AM UTC

extension wrote: post #14

So, if you have a store that sells apps , what does Apple expect you to call it? Software Shop? Algorithm Emporium? If "app store" can be trademarked, surely there must be an alternative that sounds equally or more generic.

Therefore, "app store" shouldn't be trademarked, because there isn't 'an alternative that sounds equally or more generic'.

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#17

Post by Steko » Sun, May 22, 2011, 10:38 AM UTC

emitstop wrote: post #13

I could understand if it was "AppStore" in one word or something to that effect. "App Store" on the other hand is definitely a generic term. "Application" has been shortened to app for a long time and it is very generic. And I'm not sure how much more generic you could possibly make the word "store". Even the " noun store" combination is extremely common and basic, (e.g. computer store, grocery store).

The noun windows is also fairly generic. The noun apple is also fairly generic. And yet there are trademarks for these.

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#18

Post by Typhon » Sun, May 22, 2011, 11:09 AM UTC

extension wrote: post #14

So, if you have a store that sells apps , what does Apple expect you to call it? Software Shop? Algorithm Emporium? If "app store" can be trademarked, surely there must be an alternative that sounds equally or more generic.

How about "Apstor" ? I bet nobody trademarked it yet.

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#19

Post by Typhon » Sun, May 22, 2011, 11:11 AM UTC

Steko wrote: post #17

emitstop wrote: post #13

I could understand if it was "AppStore" in one word or something to that effect. "App Store" on the other hand is definitely a generic term. "Application" has been shortened to app for a long time and it is very generic. And I'm not sure how much more generic you could possibly make the word "store". Even the " noun store" combination is extremely common and basic, (e.g. computer store, grocery store).

The noun windows is also fairly generic. The noun apple is also fairly generic. And yet there are trademarks for these.

Actually, there are several trademarks for "apple", and it resulted in several lawsuits.

Re: Apple Denies Amazon’s Claim That ‘App Store’ Is Generic Term

#20

Post by 7952 » Sun, May 22, 2011, 11:12 AM UTC

Apple actually benefits from using a generic term. They could have just sold the apps within the itunes app but which may have caused confusion. Do they then have the right to trade mark "calculator" or "calender"? They could have called the calculator isums but that would have caused confusion.