In Apple Inc. v. Amazon.com Inc., Northern District of California Judge Phyllis Hamilton dismissed a false advertising claim in which Apple accused Amazon of infringing its “App Store” mark. Amazon used that name to describe a section of its website selling applications for Android devices. Apple alleged that the use of use of the mark would divert sales and improperly associate Apple with Amazon’s inferior products.
The court held that Apple failed to produce sufficient evidence of a likelihood of confusion. “Apple has failed to establish,” Judge Hamilton wrote, “that Amazon made any false statement (express or implied) of fact that actually deceived or had the tendency to deceive a substantial segment of its audience.” Using a term in a descriptively correct way, the court reasoned, does not of itself constitute “a representation that the nature, characteristics or quality of the Amazon Appstore is the same as that of the Apple App Store.” This is particularly true given that Amazon sold apps only for Android and Kindle products.
The court has yet to resolve Apple’s trademark claim.