Amazon Wins Right To Call Application Store "App Store"

Back in March, Amazon launched its own version of the Android app store. Dubbed Amazon Appstore, the company's launch celebrations were cut short a week later when Apple filed a lawsuit against the company. Apple had already filed for a trademark on the term 'App Store' earlier in the year and though that application was being contested by Microsoft (Redmond says it's too generic a term to trademark), the Cupertino-based iPhone maker didn't want Amazon using the 'App Store' term. Apple said at the time that attempts to contact Apple regarding its use of the term did not result in a "substantive response." Perhaps Amazon was right not to respond to Apple, though, as this week a judge ruled in the etailer's favor.

Ars Technica reports that Apple has been denied the temporary injunction it was seeking against Amazon after U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that Apple did not have sufficient evidence to prove infringement (only two of eight legal criteria to establish infringement were supported by Apple's evidence). Hamilton also denied the injunction on the basis that Apple had shown no evidence of dilution or tarnishment of the "App Store" trademark.

Though Apple was the first to use the 'App Store' name (for its iOS application store) and is eager to ensure it is the only one allowed to use it, the phrase has become a generic term for the many app stores now available for BlackBerry, Android, WebOS, Nokia and Windows Phone 7 devices.