Apple tells GetJar to quit using 'App Store'

GetJar CMO Patrick Mork says he's tired of Apple bullying the industry, and that the free app shop has "decided to stand its ground" after receiving a June 22 Cease & Desist letter from Apple, which doesn't want other companies using the words "app store."

Apple has argued that consumers associate the term, in proper noun form, with its iOS offerings, and has similarly, though not yet successfully, tried to prevent Amazon from using the phrase.

Apple lawyers suggested GetJar could instead use the equally roll-off-the-tongue-friendly phrases "mobile download service" or "application download service," according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a post on the GetJar blog, Mork argued that GetJar has been offering applications since 2005, working to "pioneer the model that the general public understands as an app store today," years before Apple launched the iPhone.

"We have built a strong, global and growing business around this model, and plan to continue to use the phrase 'app store' to describe what we do," GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs told the Journal. "This move by Apple is yet more proof that the company tends to act as if it is above the law, and even as one of the smaller players in the space, we won't be bullied by Apple."

In January, Microsoft objected to Apple's continued efforts to trademark the phrase, saying the words were so generic but necessary that trademarking them would prevent companies from being able to succinctly describe their services. In a Jan. 11, 2011 motion, Microsoft quoted Steve Jobs, from an interview he'd given months earlier, showing how commonly the phrasing is used, and how necessary it is.

"In addition to Google's own app marketplace, Amazon, Verizon and Vodafone have all announced that they are creating their own app stores for Android," Jobs had said, according to the motion. "There will be at least four app stores on Android, which customers must search through to find the app they want and developers will need to work to distribute their apps and get paid."

Mork, in his blog post, added that it's questionable whether Apple even owns the term, as its 2008 trademark request was denied.

"Since Apple has a tough time with the word 'NO' they filed again and were given a 'provisional' registration under the condition that they could TM App Store if nobody opposed the registration," writes Mork. "Well it just so happens that Microsoft among others did oppose it."

Mork goes on to make the point that, as app revenue forecasts are rising, what the industry stands for is disintegrating.

"The ecosystem as a whole is becoming increasingly closed. Its character is dictated by larger companies exercising excessive force to get bigger shares of the pie. For example, Android was supposed to be FREE and open; yet developers can’t choose their billing solution. They have their price points micro-managed for them without input. If Apple isn’t suing Amazon, it’s suing start-ups. "

"Now Microsoft, who is struggling to gain traction with Windows Mobile, is charging OEM’s for using Android using our country’s broken patent system. (MDP: Microsoft Goes After Each Samsung For a Piece of Each Android Smartphone Sold) Where are all of these lawsuits and threats getting us? Is anyone actually worrying about whether app developers and content providers make enough money to keep the lights on?

Seemingly banking on public relations to prevail, should legal efforts fail, Mork added that GetJar has started an Open and Free App Movement, complete with a Facebook page, to "encourage every pissed off developer, start-up, carrier, OEM or NGO who is fed up with this crap to make their voice heard."

Interested parties can also follow the movement on Twitter, via the #OFAM hashtag.

Mork, quoting Twisted Sister (a questionably useful reference, given that an informal poll by a Moodey's analyst recently revealed twenty-somethings to be unable to name a Beatles song), wrote emphatically, "We're not going to take it! Steve Jobs isn't our Dad."