Amazon Defeats Apple; Can Use the Term 'App Store'

Amazon took a bite out of Apple Thursday as a federal judge ruled the online retailer is free to call its app store an app store.

Judge Phyllis Hamilton of U.S. District Court in San Francisco denied a request by Apple to issue a preliminary restraining order blocking Amazon from using the term for its Android apps marketplace.

Hamilton ruled the term is “descriptive” adding “the term appears to have been used more widely by other companies as time has passed.”

“Apple did have substantially exclusive use [of the phrase] previously,” she noted.

The judge’s ruling casts light on a bitter rivalry between the companies which compete online to provide e-books and digital music.

A spokesman for Apple said “We’ve asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers.”