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Microsoft has said it is pursuing legal action to quash Apple’s apparent trademark ownership of the term ‘App Store’.
The Windows group said the term is too generic to be restricted to a single company. Apple is said to have submitted an application for the phrase back in 2008.
"An app store is an app store," Microsoft’s associate general Russell Pangborn said.
"Like shoe store or toy store, it is a generic term that is commonly used by companies, governments and individuals that offer apps.”
Microsoft’s sudden protest on the App Store phrase comes months after the release of Windows Phone 7 – the Xbox group’s latest attempt to capture the smartphone market.
Pangborn told BBC News that the term “should continue to be available for use by all without fear of reprisal by Apple."
Microsoft has approached trademark officials in the US to block the trademark, the BBC News article claimed.
The US Patent Trademark Office opened up Apple’s trademark application for opposition in July last year.
