Microsoft, Nokia challenge Apple's App Store trademark rights

Mobile powers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Sony Ericsson and HTC all filed separate requests with the European Union trademark agency in Alicante, Spain seeking to invalidate Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) EU-wide trademarks to "App Store" and "Appstore."

According to a Microsoft statement, the companies "are seeking to invalidate Apple's trademark registration for 'APP STORE' and 'APPSTORE' because we believe that they should not have been granted because they both lack distinctiveness"--in an email to Bloomberg, a Nokia spokesperson adds the App Store brand "means just what it says, a store for 'apps,' which in itself is a generic term for the services that the trademark registrations cover."

Bloomberg states that any decision handed down by the European Union trademark agency could be appealed all the way to the EU's top court in Luxembourg. In the event the agency invalidates a trademark, the decision can be appealed first to its own appeals board, moving from there to the EU's two highest courts.

The new challenge to Apple's App Store trademark follows roughly a month after online retail giant Amazon.com filed its own opposition to the license with EU officials. In March, Apple filed suit against Amazon.com to block the company from using the App Store trademark in association with its new Amazon Appstore for Android. "Amazon has begun improperly using Apple's App Store mark in connection with Amazon's mobile software developer program," Apple said in the complaint, filed March 18 in California. "Amazon has unlawfully used the App Store mark to solicit software developers throughout the United States."

The Apple complaint accuses Amazon.com of trademark infringement and unfair competition and petitions for a court order to prevent the retailer from using the "App Store" brand. Apple also seeks unspecified damages. "We've asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers," an Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg. The Apple filing notes that Apple contacted Amazon multiple times to demand that it cease using the trademark, noting Amazon hasn't "provided a substantive response."

Apple's App Store generated $1.8 billion in revenue in 2010, translating to 82.7 percent of the total worldwide mobile app market but down from 92.8 percent in 2009, according to IHS Screen Digest research. Nokia's Ovi Store followed at 4.9 percent market share, trailed by Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android Market at 4.7 percent.

For more:
- read this Bloomberg article

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