back to article Amazon refudiates Apple 'app store' trademark suit

Amazon is fighting back against an Apple lawsuit that charged the mega-etailer with using the term "App Store" without proper Cupertinian consent. In a response to Apple's lawsuit, which was filed on March 18 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Amazon says it needs no license or other …

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  1. Andrew Moore

    Funny to see the old Psion Series 3 alongside

    as this was the first platform that I knew that used the term App (even the extension .app)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Yes but...

      ...it's not an original or new idea unless Apple or Microsoft came up with it. Delay sensitive buttons, rounded corners with a black face, GUIs featuring mice, even the "app store" concept... I could go on.

      Interesting on the .app extension though, for what it's worth however, Apple's ".app files" aren't really files in the usual sense...

      vk4msl-mb:Applications stuartl$ uname -a

      Darwin vk4msl-mb.local 10.7.0 Darwin Kernel Version 10.7.0: Sat Jan 29 15:17:16 PST 2011; root:xnu-1504.9.37~1/RELEASE_I386 i386

      vk4msl-mb:Applications stuartl$ pwd

      /Applications

      vk4msl-mb:Applications stuartl$ ls -l

      total 0

      drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 5 Apr 00:39 Address Book.app

      drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 5 Apr 00:39 App Store.app

      drwxr-xr-x 3 stuartl admin 102 2 Apr 2010 Audacity.app

      drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 5 Apr 00:39 Automator.app

      drwxr-xr-x 3 stuartl admin 102 18 Jul 2006 Bonjour Browser.app

      ...

      ... they're directories, treated as files by Apple's Finder. That said, the law suit as others have pointed out to me, was more about the name "app store" than the concept or the naming of the files.

    2. SuccessCase

      Re: Psion 3

      This will sound strange to anyone who didn't experience it. But remember the amazing smell when you first opened the box of a new machine? It really made you feel as though you had purchased some special super advanced peice of kit. They should have patented that smell !

      1. Andrew Moore

        Ah yes...

        I think we might have a couple in the storeroom (we where a Psion distributor once upon a time).

  2. Fluffykins Silver badge

    Is that an intentional Sarah Palin-ism?

    I think it IS intentional. Unless you'd like to repudiate the theory.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/jul/19/sarah-palin-refudiate-new-word

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Refudiate

    1. tfewster
      Headmaster

      First? NOT!

      Love the urbandictionary definitions, but Palin wasn't the first to use it, intentionally or otherwise - I recalled it from a science fiction story, and others have picked up on that and earlier usages:

      http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2360/

  3. Aaron Em

    'Refudiates'?

    Oh, God. You would.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Notice to anyone who thinks the author...

      has fallen for using the Palinism "refudiates"; READ THE ARTICLE.

      1. Aaron Em

        I don't think it was a mistake

        I just find it in rather poor taste, that's all.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Refudiate?! Come on!

    Yuck. You're falling for this "Palinism". Shame.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Can you please avoid Palinisms?

    The word is repudiates not refudiates.

    1. frank ly
      Headmaster

      Let's make the best of it

      How about we say 'fudiate': derived from the acronym FUD. Meaning to create a situation of FUD. Hence 'refudiate' = to cause to return to a situation of FUD.

    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Can you please avoid Palinisms?

      Or "refutes"......

      "Refudiates" sounds like some moron starting with the one, running out of processing capacity in their laughably tiny brain, having it slip a gear and finishing with the other.

    3. Brutus

      Err, missed the point much ...

      or just not read the article?

  6. Chris 86
    FAIL

    More foot shooting from Apple

    On the latest conference call Tim Cook, the COO said:

    “We continue to believe—and even more and more every day—that iPhone’s integrated approach is materially better than Android’s fragmented approach, where you have multiple OSes on multiple devices with different screen resolutions and ****multiple app stores**** with different rules, payment methods, and update strategies.”

    http://www.cultofmac.com/choice-tim-cook-quotes-from-apples-stunning-q2-analyst-call/91358

  7. Tony Paulazzo
    Headmaster

    If

    The losing entity were forced to pay all costs in every case such as this one, wouldn't most companies begin to think twice before suing and counter suing each other? This age of mankind (assuming we survive our own stupidity), will be remembered, shamefully, as the age of the lawyer - they're the ones building big houses and driving expensive cars from all the litigation.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If...

      "The losing entity were forced to pay all costs in every case such as this one, wouldn't most companies begin to think twice before suing and counter suing each other?"

      I doubt it: (1) it only doubles the stake; (2) if you win, it doubles the hurt to the opposing side; (3) you're still distracting the opposition's management and making their shareholders nervous. Same poker game, slightly different stakes.

  8. Ian Michael Gumby
    Alien

    Can you use Ironic in a sentence?

    As in ... "Isn't it ironic that the company which patented 'one click shopping' and sued the world is getting sued for using the term 'App Store'?"

    Or am I missing something? :-)

  9. Arctic fox
    Headmaster

    When I read "refudiate" in the headline I thought, which idiot came up with that one?

    Then I read the words "Sarah Palin" and "Twitter" and that sinking feeling was confirmed. Not only did an ignoramus come up with it but the wonders of modern communications technology allowed her to pollute the whole of cyberspace with it.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    It's called a contextual joke

    Dear all that missd the point, loosk like I'm going to have to explain it. "Refudiate" is being used in the context that Amazon are quoting the American Dialect Society for "app" being word of the year, which also named "Refudiate" the most unnecessary word of last year, much like the goings on with regard to these trademark infringement lawsuits.

    1. Arctic fox
      Headmaster

      @ Anonymous Coward: Yes most of us actually got why El Reg used it in the headline.

      What several of us are reacting to is how the hell the word got invented in the first place - see? You can even call our complaints contextual if you wish - the context being a certain regard for the mother tongue.

  11. Joey

    Amazon...

    ...is a generic word too!

    1. Brutus
      Headmaster

      Actually

      It's not. It's a proper noun referring to the big river or the warrior women :-)

  12. Richard 120
    Headmaster

    Palinism

    So, which category does "Palinism" come under then?

    Definition - A form of homespun, Midwestern demagoguery and fear mongering comprised of a stream of logically unrelated and unsupported talking points uttered by an attractive woman with nice cans and a presumably fine ass intended to engender loyalty among those inspired by demagoguery, non-sequitors, a great smile, nice tits and a presumably fine ass. (apol. Urban Dictionary)

  13. John I'm only dancing

    Headline in here

    It is REPUDIATES, not refudiates. There's no such word.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Headline in here

      You all need to sort it out or I am going to fucking kill myself.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        refudiates

        I think, or at least hope, that some of them are doing it deliberately.

        1. Red Bren
          Coat

          I repute that!

          What do you mean, "Repute" is already a word?

      2. Ru
        Grenade

        Re: You all need to sort it out

        That seems a little drastic. But if it is the only solution, might you consider going on a commentard killing spree before finishing yourself off? The rest of us would be terribly grateful.

      3. frank ly

        Sarah....

        Please don't fudiate the situation any more than it is already. (We would all miss you.)

      4. Hollerith 1

        Be strong, Sarah, be strong

        It's just the sound of the wind blowing through where attentive reading should be...

      5. Daniel B.
        Unhappy

        @Sarah Bee

        Noooo! Don't do it!

        It seems that most of the complainers have no sense of humor.

    2. David Dawson

      Read the article, you might then understand whats going on

      That is all.

    3. Oliver Mayes

      I agree entirely

      I'm anaspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous to see such pericombobulation.

      1. Crazy Goat Man Al
        Happy

        Sausage!!!

        Sausage?! SAUSAGE?!!!!! Oh, blast your eyes!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    All this fuss over a little word?

    Do I sense a new "Sarah Palin" icon in amongst the choices in the near future?

    That said, it's a worry that El Reg staffers should be resorting to expletives in order to get their point across. Have the English standards slipped that far? It's a wonder the grammar/spelling nazis didn't pounce on that too.

    I for one didn't get too hung up on these additions to the English language. Making up more interesting words sounds an awful lot better than people just throwing a heap of foul language together... if we keep doing that I can see us communicating using some combination of growls and grunts in years to come.

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