Ok, these posts have been mainly about patents, not copyright, but who cares? Anyway, lets get on with the post.
Did you know that Apple and Microsoft have hired linguists to fight for the name App Store. Bit of background: Apple filed for a trademark 2008, I think, for the App Store name. Microsoft combated that move, saying the term is too generic, even though no one, not even Microsoft, were using the term!
Microsoft have now filed a formal complaint (notice the italics), against the Apples strong linguistic team, with their own expensive linguist definition of the term:
"The compound noun 'app store' means simply 'store at which apps are offered for sale,' which is merely a definition of the thing itself--a generic characterisation."
In my opinion, Apple deserves the right to the name, as they invented the whole idea of apps, whereas previouly, they were programs (a dirty Windows word) for the PDA, with limited access for 3rd party developers.
This goes into a bit more detail here, but I will let you read it if you are interested.
