Microsoft and Apple are in the midst of a fight to determine whether Apple will be allowed to register APP STORE™ as a trademark with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. In a motion for summary judgment filed January 10 at the USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Microsoft alleged that the term is used widely to describe the entire category of marketplaces into which Apple's well-known App Store falls, rendering the term "generic" and ineligible for protection as a trademark. Apple disagrees, saying that the term merely describes its own store, rather than the whole class of such stores, and that the public has come to associate the term exclusively with Apple's store. "The line between a generic mark and a descriptive mark is rarely a bright one," says Christopher Barnett, a trademark attorney with Scott & Scott, LLP. "Apple clearly has an incredible incentive to fight Microsoft's motion, and I would not be surprised to see the TTAB deny Microsoft's motion and let the case play itself out, so that each side has a full opportunity to offer evidence in support of its position." For more information, please contact Mr. Barnett at 800-596-6176, or at cbarnett@scottandscottllp.com.