Microsoft Challenging EU ‘App Store’ Trademark

Earlier this year Microsoft filed a motion in the U.S. to fight Apple obtaining a trademark on the term ‘App Store’. Apparently they along with a few others have decided to do the same in Europe.

HTC, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Microsoft have joined forces against Apple in this fight. A Microsoft rep has this to say, ‘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.”

In their claim they are making it a point to show that Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself has referred to competing application marketplaces as “app store’.

I have said before how I don’t think anyone has the right to take a generic term and trademark it for their use only. It really makes no sense, though companies do it often. Whether Apple gets the trademark or not, it really won’t prevent people from referring to all the application markets as ‘App Store’. Hopefully everyone realizes that and they put this issue to rest.

Source: Cnet