Amazon's Appstore draws lawsuit heat from Apple
Remember the many news stories leading up to Amazon's new Appstore, which made its official debut yesterday? Well, it turns out Apple heard about Amazon's latest venture into the mobile space too . . . and they're not happy about it.
Apple, notorious for suing everyone about every little thing, did not find Amazon's use of the "App Store" name for their new shop amusing. Last week, they filed a lawsuit alledging that Amazon is improperly using the trademarked "App Store" name to gain developer traction and name recognition. Their complaints that the second store will confuse consumers and developers are to be expected, but are not groundless.
Amazon has not oficially responded; however, the general consensus on their reasoning for using the name is that it is a general term and Apple shouldn't have a trademark on it.
Now that the Amazon Appstore is open and gaining a lot of press, it's also beginning to get some negative attention. Apple is obviously not happy about it, and Google probably isn't either, especially with coveted titles like Angry Birds Rio launching exclusively in the Appstore and Amazon's lower prices (on some apps), daily free paid app promotion, and other features. It will be interesting to see how hard Amazon fights to keep its Appstore open, and if consumers will choose it over other options.
[Reuters]
