Apple’s appeal for the Australian trademark for the name “App Store” was denied by a court on Wednesday. Apple was seeking a reversal of an earlier ruling that found “app store” wasn’t available for trademark, because the term is too descriptive.
Federal Court of Australia Justice David Yates dismissed Apple’s appeal of a decision handed down by the country’s Registrar of Trade Marks denying rights to the term “app store,” and ordered the company to pay resultant legal costs associated with the case, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Apple has not established that, because of the extent to which it has used the mark before the filing date, it does distinguish the designated services as being Apple’s services,” Justice Yates said. “It follows that APP STORE must be taken as not being capable of distinguishing the designated services as Apple’s services. The application must, therefore, be rejected.”
Apple has been in previous court battles over the “app store” moniker, filing suit against Amazon in 2011 for violating an “App Store” trademark, which was under review at the time. Competitors, such as Microsoft, have sought to block the approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
