Amazon has gone to a federal judge to have Apple’s claim of false advertising in a lawsuit against the Seattle-based online retailer. Amazon claims that the trademark lawsuit brought by Apple in March of last year around the term, “app store” is reasonable enough, given the current climate of selling apps on mobile devices.
Apple added the claim of false advertising to the lawsuit last November, just after Amazon started calling its own app store the “Amazon Appstore” in conjunction with the launch of the Kindle Fire tablet device. Apple calls this name change misuse, and false advertising, in that it might confuse customers. Amazon, however, is having none of that.
Amazon filed the request today in the US District Court in Oakland, saying that the term “app store” is a generic one, and its use should not constitute false advertising. The company went further, quoting former CEO, Steve Jobs, and current Apple CEO, Tim Cook, using the term to discuss their rivals. Cook has been quoted as commenting on “the number of app stores out there” and Jobs has referred to the “four app stores on Android.”
“Apple presumably does not contend that its past and current CEOs made false statements regarding to those other app stores to thousands of investors in earnings calls,” Amazon said.
A hearing on Amazon’s motion is set for October 31 of this year, and the trial is currently scheduled for the 19th of August of next year, 2013.
Source: Reuters
