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Amazon prevails in battle with Apple, can legally use ?app store?

Apple has given up its fight to claim exclusive rights to use the term ?app store,? paving the way for Amazon and possible others to legally use the increasingly common name for a mobile application marketplace.

Apple and Amazon.com both decided to end a lawsuit that would have determined who can use the ?app store? name and was scheduled to start on Aug. 19. The case was dismissed by the judge at the request of both companies, according to reports.

"I think it is a loss for Apple in terms of not having full control of using the term," said Arun Ramdeane, senior account executive at Atimi Software, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. "They may be a bit more conservative in how they market the term.

"With Amazon as well using the term, I do not see it losing its cachet ? again, right now how many people refer to the App Store and mean Amazon?" he said.

"It will be interesting to see if other OEMs pick it up, though. For the most part they have coined their own terminology and have invested in marketing those, so we might not."

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

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Generic term
As a result of this development, both Apple and Amazon.com will have the right to use the term ?app store? to refer to their mobile application distribution marketplaces.

"We?re gratified that the court has conclusively dismissed this case," said Mary Osako, an Amazon spokeswoman.

"We look forward to continuing our focus on delivering the best possible appstore experience to customers and developers," she said.

The news also paves the way for other app marketplaces to adopt the term, with many smaller services having avoided use of the term over the past couple of years for fear of Apple targeting them with legal action.

Just last month, reports had suggested that the two companies had been unable to come to terms over a settlement in the case. However, it now appears that talks continued and a settlement that was agreeable to both parties was reached.

Apple, which has spent years and significant resources promoting the Apple App Store, initially made trademark infringement allegations against Amazon.com following the ecommerce giant?s introduction of the Amazon Appstore for Android in March of 2011. Apple?s suit claimed Amazon?s use of the term was misleading and confusing for consumers.

Amazon countered that the term "app store" has become generic and using it does not mislead customers.

50 billion downloads
With more than 900,000 apps in Apple's App Store and 50 billion downloads, Apple reportedly said it no longer saw a need to pursue the case. 

Competition has increased between the two companies over the past few years as Amazon.com has focused on building its Kindle business. Both companies provide services that are promoted by the hardware they sell.

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. The judge said that Apple failed to establish that Amazon made any false statements or that it deceived a substantial segment of its audience through the use of the term ?Appstore.?

"Many believe that what Apple started has gotten bigger than any one company," said Brennan Hayden, executive vice president and chief operating officer of WDA, East Lansing, MI.

"Almost everything in life has been changed by the mobile phone, but the form that change has taken has been dominated of late by Apple," he said.

"Perhaps this concession is Apple relinquishing one small piece of that change to the people. I doubt it, but maybe."

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