Microsoft joins HTC, Nokia and Sony Ericsson file complaints over Apple´s App Store trademark.

WorldWide Tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesús.

Microsoft is widely reported to have filed a formal complaint with the European trademark authorities, calling for Apple’s trademark on the terms ‘app store’ and ‘appstore’ to be declared invalid. 

This joins similar calls from HTC, Nokia and Sony Ericsson, with all of the parties arguing that “app store” is too generic a name to be granted protection. Microsoft and Apple, along with Amazon, are already embroiled in similar actions in the US.

According to a statement from Microsoft, published by The Register: “today’s filings by HTC, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Microsoft, like Amazon’s recent action, demonstrate the breadth of opposition to Apple’s unsupportable claim of exclusivity. ‘App store,’ like ‘toy store’ or ‘book store,’ is a generic term that should continue to be available for everyone to use for stores that sell apps.”

This argument is similar to an earlier statement made by Amazon, which asserted: “based on their common meaning, the words ‘app store’ together denote a store for apps, such as the app stores operated by Amazon and Apple.” Apple Insider said that Apple began trademarking ‘app store’ in July 2008, shortly after launching its store for the iPhone, with Microsoft stating its opposition earlier in 2011, stating that the term is too generic – to which Apple responded that “Windows” is also generic.