Apple denied injunction to stop Amazon’s use of ‘appstore’ name; trial date set
A federal judge in Oakland has denied Apple Inc.’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop Amazon.com Inc. from using the term “appstore.”
U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said she didn’t agree with Amazon’s argument that the names “app store” and “appstore” were generic and could be used by anybody, but she said Apple had failed to show “a likelihood of confusion” for customers who use the Apple App Store and the Amazon Appstore for Android, according to a Reuters report.
Hamilton has set a trial date in the dispute between the two companies for October 2012.
Amazon launched Appstore for Android on March 22, one day after Apple filed its suit against the online retail giant. Apple alleged trademark infringement over the name of Amazon’s storefront, which sells apps for Google’s Android operating system found on smartphones and tablets.
Apple’s App Store sells apps only for iOS, which runs on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch devices. Apple also has a Mac App Store that sells software for its computers running its Mac OS X operating system.
Officials at Amazon and Apple were unavailable for comment Thursday.
