Apple has lost a legal battle in Australia seeking to trademark the term “app store”.
The Australian Federal Court has declined Apple's application to overturn a ruling by the Registar of Trade Marks that the term “app store” is too vague to be protected, OppTrendsreported.
Australian law requires trademarks to be capable of distinguishing products and services from one company to those of another. The court ruled that the term app store does not distinguish Apple's store from its competitors.
Apple has been asked to pay legal costs associated with the case. The extent of the costs hasn't been disclosed, but Fairfax Mediaquotes a lawyer's estimate that the appeal would have cost between A$100,000 ($84,000) and A$200,000.
Apple had previously taken Amazon to court over the similarity of the name of the Amazon Appstore with the Apple App Store, and Amazon had filed a counter-claim. Last year both companies mutually agreed to drop their legal action.
Amazon's argument at the time was that app store had become such a generic term that using it would not mislead customers.