Amazon And Apple Ordered To Enter Settlement Talks On ‘App Store’ Trademark

This month, a court dismissed Apple's false advertising lawsuit against Amazon in the legal dispute over the "App Store" trademark.

Apple and Amazon have been battling over the trademark for about two years, with Apple claiming the use of the "Appstore" name by Amazon to describe its online store for Android apps causes confusion amongst consumers and infringes upon App Store name.

Today Bloomberg reported that two companies have been ordered to enter settlement negotiations over the infringement in an effort to settle the dispute before it leads to trial scheduled for August. The report notes:

“U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco directed the companies to confer on March 21 and to bring their lead attorneys and people who have full authority to negotiate and settle the case, according to a court filing today. A trial is scheduled for August”.

Amazon has said that Apple should not have been awarded the ‘app store’ trademark in 2010 because the term is a generic one. Apple filed for the trademark back in 2008, but after the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office preliminary approved it in 2010, Microsoft filed and objection arguing that ‘app store’ was the generic term.

The approval of the trademark has remained in limbo, as Apple and Microsoft have agreed to delay further debate until the case between Amazon and Apple is resolved.