Apple has filed for trademark on the concept “App Store” and Microsoft is raising its objection on the filing motivating that it can’t possibly be subject to a trademark as the words describe a generic concept.

The Microsoft complaint filed with the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board states that “Apple seeks to exclusively appropriate the phrase ‘App Store’ for use with its own store offering apps”. Redmond also refers to some precedents when the US Patent and Trademark Office ruled against other trademark filings that implied combinations including the word “store”.

Currently, Google’s Android Market, BlackBerry’s App World, Microsoft’s Marketplace, Nokia’s Ovi Store, Palm’s App Catalogue as well as Samsung’s Samsung Apps (and we excluded Amazon, Verizon and Vodafone’s app stores) are all being referred to as app stores. Protecting the “app store” concept with a trademark would not allow further usage of the terms without infringing the actual trademark which is not acceptable and thus object to Microsoft’s objection.

Source: USPTO

Via: The Register