After months of back and forth legal filings, Amazon and Apple have finally ended their ongoing dispute centering on Amazon's use of the term "App Store."
As part of the agreement, Apple agreed to drop the suit and Amazon promised not to counter-sue Apple in the future.
Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said that "we no longer see a need to pursue our case. With more than 900,000 apps and 50 billion downloads, customers know where they can purchase their favorite apps."
Apple initially sued Amazon back in March of 2011 alleging that the online retailer's use of the word "App Store" in its mobile software developer program constituted trademark infringement. Apple expressed that allowing Amazon to continue to use the phrase "App Store" would ultimately confuse consumers who associate the phrase with Apple's app store for iOS apps.
Amazon countered that the term "app store" was too generic to warrant trademark protection and that Apple failed to provide any evidence demonstrating any "real evidence of actual confusion" between app stores.
Interestingly enough, Amazon, in its response to Apple's suit, highlighted how Steve Jobs during one particular earnings conference call used the term 'app store' to refer to a number of competing online marketplaces.
The Jobs quote in question reads:
So there will be at least four app stores on Android, which customers must search among to find the app they want and developers will need to work with to distribute their apps and get paid. This is going to be a mess for both users and developers. Contrast this with Apple’s integrated App Store, which offers users the easiest-to-use largest app store in the world, preloaded on every iPhone.
But all of the legal posturing can now come to a close, with Apple caling it a day and deciding to drop the suit altogether.
via Reuters