Thursday, March 24, 2011

Amazon Appstore facing lawsuits which could boost cost

With a free Angry Birds download, a new appstore put onto the sector. Amazon’s Appstore became official Tues morning. This is regardless of a cease-and-desist order and federal trademark lawsuit filed by Apple computer over the use of the name "Appstore". This is one of multiple lawsuits over the use of the term "app," all of which could possibly be driving up cost to consumers.

More people buying from new Amazon Appstore

The Amazon Appstore, a store for Android applications, opened on Tues. morning. About 3,200 applications for Android based systems for instance phones and tablet computers are accessible in the store. Probably the most Android applications in one place are found in the Amazon Appstore. This can be a definite plus. Most applications on the Amazon Appstore cost between 99 cents and $4.99. Amazon chooses the price of the program however listens to what the developer has to say over it unlike the Android Marketplace where the developer sets the price of their program.

Apple upset at Amazon for Appstore meaning a lawsuit

The Appstore wasn't even opened yet when Apple filed a lawsuit against Amazon. This was for trademark infringement. Apple is upset since the "App store" is a trademark. Apple claims Amazon is violating that trademark. The lawsuit initially claimed “unspecified damages” for the trademark violation. A cease-and-desist order was put in. The Appstore was opened by Amazon anyway obviously ignoring this. There is another lawsuit from Microsoft against Apple Computers that states "App" and "App Store" are too generic to trademark which means there are more people concerned about the "App Store" trademark. More than likely, these could be very long legal cases.

consumers pay for Appstore lawsuit

It could be a long time before these federal brand infringements lawsuits are settled. Years can be taken to do this. Working class individuals pay for the courts that will do these federal legal cases while the "court costs" charges may have to be paid. Beyond this “hidden” cost of the lawsuits, the brand cases also increase the price to the businesses, which is passed on to consumers. The likelihood this will boost the cost of most apps, however, is low. App developers, private or as a part of a larger business, are often willing to develop and release apps for free or for very inexpensive costs. Many developers just want to get subscriptions or followers from what they’re doing. The "App Store" lawsuit might end up being a large problem for these producers.

Citations

Dailytech

dailytech.com/Apple+Slams+Amazon+With+Lawsuit+Claiming+Its+Android+Appstore+Infringes/article21188.htm

CNN

tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/22/where-is-amazons-appstore/

Moco News

moconews.net/article/419-amazon-launches-its-appstore.-is-a-tablet-or-a-handset-next/



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