Apple?s allegations that Amazon is infringing its trademarks by using the term ?app store? will make their way to a courtroom in August after talks between the two companies failed to reach a settlement.

Lawyers for the two companies reportedly held a meeting in early May and another in June, but were not able to reach a settlement. This suggests that Amazon intends to continue using the term Appstore as opposed to an alternative that Apple would approve of and reflects the growing competition between the two companies.

?Competition between Apple and Amazon has increased over the past few years,? said Arun Ramdeane
senior account executive at Atimi Software, Vancouver, Canada. ? With the introduction of the Kindle Fire it was clear Amazon wanted a piece of the pie.

?Apple and Amazon both provide services which the hardware they sell promotes,? he said. ?Competition may have a factor, but this is to do with creative.

?Apple is a marketing company and they have spent years and money promoting the term ?App Store.? I'm sure they are just looking to protect their investment."

Mr. Ramdeane is not affiliated with Apple or Amazon and spoke based on his experience in mobile.

Neither Apple nor Amazon responded to a request for comment.

Robust ecosystems
Amazon won a partial victory in the ongoing case earlier this year when a judge ruled in a summary judgment that Apple had not proved that Amazon engaged in false advertising.

Amazon launched the Amazon Appstore for Android users in March of 2011.

Apple quickly followed with a lawsuit claiming Amazon?s use of the term is causing confusion for consumers, an allegation refuted by Amazon on the ground that the term is generic and Apple does not have exclusive rights to it.

Apple is also claiming that the value of its App Store is being harmed by Amazon?s Appstore.

Apple?s suit included claims that Amazon had engaged in false advertising, which the judge determined Apple had not proven earlier this year. In the judgment, the judge said that Apple failed to establish that Amazon made any false statements or that it deceived a substantial segment of its audience.

The issue of whether or not Amazon infringed Apple?s trademark will be addressed in the August trial. Apple is seeking a court order to block Amazon from using the term Appstore for its app distribution service.

"Every platform has its own distribution services and every OEM is promoting their stores as the central repositories to get all of your apps,? Mr. Ramdeane said.

?I think one of the differences with Apple and Amazon is that both those stores really provide an excellent tie-in to all of their services,? he said. ?So they promote their ecosystem, which is beyond apps, they promote movies, music, books and TV shows.?

Competition heats up
The term ?App Store? is more widely used all the time as the number of mobile applications continues to proliferate as well as the number of distribution channels for apps.

Some companies have intentionally stayed away from using the term to avoid possible legal entanglements with Apple. 

For example, Google Play is the name of the search giant?s Android application distribution platform.

Apple and Amazon are increasingly competitive on several fronts, including services, transactions and mobile hardware.

Amazon launched the Kindle Fire tablet in late 2011 as a smaller, less expensive alternative to the iPad tablet. The success of the Kindle Fire was at least partially behind Apple?s launch of its own smaller tablet, the iPad mini, late last year.

The two also have been at odds over the issue of ebook pricing. A settlement reached between the Department of Justice and several book publishers over allegations of price fixing is enabling Amazon to once again sell competitively priced ebooks and attract consumers to its tablets as a result.

While the publishers chose to settle that suit, Apple is currently fighting it in court.

?I hear 'App Store,' I think Apple,? Mr. Ramdeane said. ?You hear Android users say Google Play, but more and more I am hearing in conversation the term 'App Store' being use generically.

?Whether it is an Android device or iOS, the public seem to be conditioned now that where you get your apps, is the ?App Store.??

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York