Amazon seeks to throw out Apple “app store” advertising claim
(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has asked a federal judge to throw out Apple Inc's false advertising claim in a lawsuit challenging the online retailer's use of the “app store” name. — The claim is part of a March 2011 trademark lawsuit …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's March 2011 suit sought to stop Amazon from using the term, while Amazon had already argued that the label was generic. A federal judge's refusal to block Amazon's use pending the case left the retailer able to keep using the name as the litigation proceeded.
Amazon's new motion narrows the fight to Apple's false-advertising theory rather than resolving the underlying trademark dispute. It matters because Apple is trying to preserve exclusive association with a term that Amazon uses for its own software marketplace.
First-order effects
- Apple must defend the factual and legal basis of its false-advertising claim, while Amazon seeks to remove that portion of the case before trial.
- Amazon's marketplace branding remains unaffected by an injunction after the court's earlier denial of Apple's preliminary-relief request.
Second-order effects
- A dismissal would concentrate the parties' resources on Apple's trademark claim, including their competing views of whether “app store” functions as a protected mark or a generic label.
- Other software-marketplace operators gain a clearer signal that a widely used category name can be contested in court without immediately forcing a rebrand.
Third-order effects
- The case tests whether platform owners can turn a familiar product-category label into a proprietary brand; a pattern of weak enforcement would favor descriptive marketplace naming over exclusive terminology.
The trend: As software marketplaces multiply, trademark disputes are increasingly focused on whether the names consumers use as categories can also serve as exclusive platform brands.