Microsoft Complains that Apple Can't Copyright "App Store"

[yorkshireman]

Microsoft Says Apple Can't Copyright "App Store"

Microsoft says that Apple "...Cannot convert the generic term 'app store' into a protectable trademark" seems to have a lot of merit to me as a layman.

However their argument would be a lot stronger (morally) if Microsoft hadn't already copyrighted the word "Windows".

[d000hg]

Why? A windowed OS is generic but "Windows" isn't. "App" is totally generic as is "Store". Apple should call it iStore.

[Sysman]

Who started using the word "App" instead of "Application"?

Wasn't that Apple?

How did the word and term 'App' come about for Smart Phones?

The term "app" has existed as an shortening of "application" for a long time, but clearly Apple popularized the term with the marketing of its "App Store" and "There's an app for that" slogan.

This is not really an answer to the question, but David Pogue coined the term 'app phone" to refer to devices like iPhone, Android phones, and the Palm Pre/Pixi, to distinguish them from the far-less-capable "smartphones" we had for the previous decade. A place to put your Apps

[scooterscot]

I just bought my first app via the app store. iPhoto 11, £8

[d000hg]

Who started using the word "App" instead of "Application"?

Wasn't that Apple?

Hmm, developers have used it for ages haven't they? And what about web-apps?

[VectraMan]

Hmm, developers have used it for ages haven't they? And what about web-apps?

MFC (that's Microsoft's C++ library for the dunces) uses the CWinApp etc. And that goes back before Apple even existed*. Windows refers to a particular product, that's clearly nothing to do with those holes in the side of your house with glass in them.

*Okay, so they technically still existed in the early 90s.

[Paddy]

The American way seems to be that they have a right to copyright and patient other people names, ideas, invention and possessions. They even take it to the degree of patenting seeds that famers have used for thousands of years on the grounds they modified them a little. Don’t be surprised if they patent the wheel.

[Sysman]

Hmm, developers have used it for ages haven't they? And what about web-apps?

We had applets too.

[Sysman]

The American way seems to be that they have a right to copyright and patient other people names, ideas, invention and possessions. They even take it to the degree of patenting seeds that famers have used for thousands of years on the grounds they modified them a little. Don’t be surprised if they patent the wheel.

Let's face it, hardly a day goes by without SomeBigUSCorp suing AnotherBigUSCorp about something or other.

Small wonder that Michael Corleone was trying to persuade his son to finish his law degree the other night in Godfather III - guaranteed work for life.