One electronics item that is likely to appear on many people’s Christmas lists is the new Kindle Fire, Amazon’s tablet version of its Kindle e-book reader. The Kindle Fire came out just two weeks ago, but with a price of $199, some think it could already top five million sales before the end of the year. Industry followers also think it might be a strong competitor to the previously untouchable Apple iPad. That may be one reason underlying Apple’s decision to amend its lawsuit against Amazon over phrases like “app store.”
Apple originally sued Amazon back in March on trademark infringement grounds for Amazon’s use of the word “appstore.” Apple amended its lawsuit to refer to new advertisements for the new Kindle Fire, which promote that the device can use the “Amazon Appstore.” Apple noted that advertisements originally had “Amazon Appstore for Android” (Android is the operating system from Google that runs on the Kindle Fire), but that Amazon began de-emphasizing the “for Android” part.
Apple submitted an application to the US Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) in 2008 to trademark the term “app store,” but that application is pending the resolution of another “app store” dispute – this one between Apple and Microsoft. Microsoft has been trying to prevent Apple from receiving a trademark for the phrase, arguing that it is too generic.
In general, generic terms will not receive trademark protection because they are not creative enough to warrant it. If the PTO granted protection for generic terms, we would start running out of words in the language that did not run afoul of someone’s or some business’s trademark. Have you or your business had any issues regarding whether a generic phrase merited trademark protection?
Klein Trial Lawyers – Los Angeles business litigation attorneys