Microsoft is fighting rival Apple’s claim that it has dibs on the name “App Store,” arguing the term is generic and can be used by any shop selling programs for gadgets such as smartphones.
Microsoft has asked the US Patent and Trademark Office to deny Apple’s request to “exclusively appropriate” the term “app store” based on the success of the iPhone, iPod and iPad maker’s online software shop bearing that name.
“The undisputed evidence shows that ‘app store’ is a generic name for a store offering apps,” Microsoft lawyer William Ferron Jr. said in a filing two weeks ago with the trademark office.
PHOTO: REUTERS 照片：路透
“Apple cannot leverage its early success to prevent competitors from using this generic term for their own app stores.”
Microsoft called for the rejection of Apple’s request to register “App Store” as a trademark.
Even Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has publicly referred to rival software shops as app stores, according to Ferron.
California-based Apple launched its App Store in 2008 as a shop for fun, hip or functional mini-programs for its trend-setting mobile gadgets.
The success of the shop, and its role in making Apple devices marketplace hits, has prompted Internet titan Google and a slew of mobile phone makers to launch app stores of their own.
(AFP)
蘋果宣稱「App Store」名稱歸它所有，不過微軟極力抗辯對手蘋果的說法，並主張這是一般性名稱，任何商家皆可使用它販售設計程式，供智慧型手機等電子小玩意搭配使用。
微軟已要求美國專利商標局駁回蘋果「獨家使用」「app store」這個詞語的商標申請。蘋果申請是因為這間生產iPhone、iPod與iPad的公司的網路軟體商店大獲成功。
微軟律師小威廉‧費倫兩週前在提交給商標局的文檔中說：「用『app store』當商店名販售應用軟體，是不爭的事實。」
他說：「蘋果不能利用早期成功，防止競爭者使用app stores這個一般性詞語。」
微軟主張反對蘋果要求將「App Store」註冊為商標。
根據費倫所說的，就連蘋果執行長史蒂芬‧賈伯斯也曾公開把其他公司的網路軟體商店稱作app stores。
為了使蘋果領導潮流的行動裝置有趣、時髦或具有功能性迷你小程式，蘋果在二零零八年在加州推出App Store商店。
這間商店的成功，讓蘋果產品在市場上獨領風騷，也讓網路巨擘Google與許多手機製造商也推出他們自己的app stores。
（法新社／編譯：林亞蒂）
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