It's On: Apple Sues Amazon Over App Store Trademark

The world of trademarks is a fascinating, and incredibly (perhaps needlessly) complex one. At first glance, Apple's decision to sue Amazon over the use of "Appstore" in the name of Amazon's new Android, um, app store may seem a bit trivial.

Of course the tech world is full of generic words/terms that are claimed as trademarks by one company or another: Perhaps you're familiar with a little word processor called Word? Businesses have to defend their trademarks, or risk losing them. With that said, many times it can be questionable whether the trademark should've been granted to begin with, and this might be one of them. But again, trademark disputes usually quietly remain in the shadows: there's an initial flurry of coverage when a suit is announced, and then off in the shadows, things are quietly resolved.

The risk Apple always runs with picking a fight with Amazon, is the key role Amazon plays in how you purchase items from the App Store(tm) . When the original iTunes store launched, Apple licensed Amazon's one-click technology. That is Amazon's patented system by which you can buy something online without first putting it in an online shopping cart. And yes, whether that system even deserves a patent is a discussion in and of itself. And who knows, if things get ugly enough, Apple could open that can of worms.

Stay tuned, as this shapes up to have the potential to become a real cluster in the coming months.