A couple of giants in the mobile space are going at it hammer and tongs over trademarking. It appears that Microsoft is somewhat miffed at Apple trying to trademark the term “App Store” for their iTunes online application store.
According to an article over on Inomobile by Marc Flores and by way of Techflash, Microsoft has escallated the battle to halt iPhone giant Apple from trademarking the well known term “App Store” and has asked the Patent and Trademark Office to refuse Apple’s request.
The basis of the request from Microsoft is that the term “App Store” it a generic name and thus Apple can’t claim exclusivity over it. So basically Windows Phone 7 maker Microsoft is saying that the term is so generic it can be applied to all application stores on the market.
However, according to Apple the term “App Store” is already well known in the mobile space as a “reference to Apple’s extraordinarily well-known APP STORE mark and the services rendered by Apple thereunder.”
In this argument I figure I have to agree with Apple, when people think about the term “App Store” they instinctively think of the Apple App Store and iPhone apps. So do our readers agree with Apple or Microsoft on this matter?