Hasta La Gadget!

Is Apple the rightful owner of the words “App Store?” Well, that all depends on what your definition of “is” is. And it also helps to have a pretty firm grip on what the terms “app” and “store” mean. Thankfully, both sides of this argument (Apple and Microsoft) have employed linguists in this war of the words. 

Now the legal battle features such gems as, “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 characterization.” That one’s from Microsoft-hired linguist Ronald Butters. It’s a direct response to Apple employed linguist Robert Leonard’s statement that the phrase i s a trademarkable proper noun. 

How valuable is the employment of a professional linguist in this battle? Well, for the record, Apple paid Leonard $350 an hour, and Butters got $400 an hour from Microsoft.