The tech world’s playground bully Apple, has gotten its way over Germany’s version of Amazon, after the US court row about the online retailer’s use of the “App Store” name.
“Amazon Appstore” apparently was a plagiarism of Apple’s “App Store” according to the Cupertino Co. and the term has been contested in courts for the past few months. A top judge even slammed the case – stating that the “App Store” title is by no means “famous” enough for such a grandiose claim.
After having wrists slapped on home turf, the school yard antagonist has taken the fight to new territory where it’s now challenge the German branch of Amazon and has seemingly won – for now.
The ruling has meant use of a variant of the “trademarked” App Store name renders Amazon.de can no longer accept application submissions from developers – effectively bringing an end to business on the German Amazon Appstore.
“We wanted to notify you of a recent change to your Developer Portal account; for the time being, we are not accepting new app submissions from developers located in Germany.” – Amazon.de informs its app traders via email.
The retailer continues “It could be possible that we will see similar things happening in other European countries, and Amazon may be forced to stop taking application submissions in those countries as well until the various court cases reach their conclusion.”
Could the UK’s Amazon be next in line for Apple’s (frankly pathetic) crusade?
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