London, UK; 04, December 2014: It is reported that Australia’s Federal Court has decided Apple cannot trademark the term ‘App Store’.
Apple had been trying to trademark the term in Australia but in 2013 the nation’s Registrar of Trademarks ruled that App Store “is a purely descriptive term which is not to any extent inherently adapted to distinguish the designated services from the goods or services of other traders”. In other words, ‘app store’ doesn’t apply to Apple alone. The Federal Court has upheld that view.
Tony Rust, Managing Director of Apt Projects Ltd, creators of the quirky online TCM Big App Store says “It’s clear that common sense has broken out at last and the situation where a trademark as generic as ‘App Store’ can no longer be sustained even by Apple with their vast tax avoidance wealth. We will be redoubling our efforts to defend the registration of our TCM Big App Store trademark in the UK which Apple has opposed.”
“Apple Inc may have trademarked the layout of their Apple Stores on the High Street but there is a world of difference between Apple’s branding of their online App Store and the online TCM Big App Store. The online TCM Big App Store branding is very strong. It looks like a department store with its floor layouts, lifts, stairs and escalators, talking lift operators and even washroom sound effects. We’ve got special events going on all of the time with boxing and dinghy sailing in the Sports Demonstration Area and a new Health & Beauty Demonstration Area on the Lower Ground Floor; we’re a million miles away from Apple’s online App Store branding. Above all, we sell TCM Big Apps which are software business solutions developed using our TCM software development kit; we don’t sell phone apps.”
“All the way through this it’s been the big, rich company, Apple Inc, using its bottomless financial muscle to oppose a legitimate trademark application by a small innovative British company. I’ve previously said that their opposition was a farce and a misuse of process and this up-to-date ruling supports that statement. Apple Inc must have known which way the wind was blowing with regard to their App Store trademark in 2013 when they dropped their legal case against Amazon for using the name ‘AppStore’. Their opposition to our application for ‘TCM Big App Store’ on the grounds that the public could be confused between their online App Store and the TCM Big App store is an absolute nonsense. They should not be putting us to the torment, cost and time that has resulted from their unjustifiable opposition”.
“Despite this, we’re successfully continuing to gear up for the opening of the store and just beginning our public crowdfunding to raise £200,000 for our expansion with more key staff and the creation of over 4,000 Help Videos which will be a world first in the support of software business solutions. Anyone who wants to invest a minimum of £500 with the prospect of doubling their money or better can buy shares on line at www.tcmbigappstore.com/investor.php “
About Apt Projects Ltd.:
Apt Projects Limited was incorporated in 1991 and their customer list includes the European Commission and the National Health Service as well as small and medium sized companies. They began work on their TCM Advanced Business Management product in 1994 and over the past year and a half have been converting it for use as a software development kit.
Apt Projects Crowdfunding:
Apt Projects currently have their pitch on Venture Giant and are inviting investment from interested parties. Their target is £200,000 of which just under £190,000 remains to be funded.
Their Investor Video succinctly describes their pitch http://www.tcmbigappstore.com/investor.php
About the trademark dispute with Apple Inc
Apple has the UK and EU trademarks for ‘App Store’ and claim that the public could be confused between their App Store and the TCM Big App Store. Apt Projects say that the TCM Big App Store does not sell phone apps, it sells TCM Big Apps which are for use on PCs and Servers and which have been developed using their TCM software development kit. They also say that their zany, quirky branding is completely different from Apple’s App Store branding.
About TCM Big Apps:
TCM Big Apps are business management software solutions designed for specific types of businesses which run on PCs or server networks. They make life easier by simplifying and automating many of the clerical tasks which are a drag on productivity. TCM Big Apps are full of clever time saving and easy to use functions which remove work from the user and provide great reports. Examples would be CRM and sales force automation, or a system for a sports club or equipment hire, or tradesman type businesses – plumbers, heating engineers and the like.
About TCM Big App Store:
The TCM Big App Store is the only virtual on line 12 floor, 7 acre 700 counter department store. It has lifts and escalators and stairs to move you from floor to floor; Cookery and Sports Demonstration Areas, a pet shop with a rhinoceros and fish racing… it’s a zany marketing approach and we invite additions to the Story of the Store which records the history of this virtual building which has the address ‘Kingsbridge, Central London’.
For Media Contact:
Contact: Tony Rust
Telephone: 01427 875103
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.tcmbigappstore.com
http://www.tcmbigappstore.com/investor.php
