Apple battles rival Amazon over 'app store' name with trademark lawsuit

Sue a rival for stealing your trademark? There isn't an app for that - but Apple may want to consider creating one.

The tech giant, which is suing Amazon.com for trademark infringement over the term \"app store,\" this week tried to shoot down Amazon's claim that the phrase is generic and putting the words together \"denote a store for apps,\" said Apple in a federal court filing in Oakland, Calif.

Apple went to court in March to prevent the online retail giant from using \"AppStore\" to sell its software applications for mobile devices using Android. Apple, which owns the popular iTunes app store, argued it has exclusive rights to the phrase.

Amazon fired back last month with its own court filing, claiming Apple doesn't have exclusive rights to it. Amazon opened its app store on March 22.

Apple, meanwhile, took another step in developing its new cloud music service that allows users to access their song collections on smartphones, MP3 players and tablets from the Inteet instead of downloading music into a device's memory.

The company has reached agreements with three leading record labels and is in negotiations with a fourth, sources told Bloomberg News.

Record companies are looking for ways to revive stagnant digital sales and reclaim customers who are now able to stream songs over the Inteet for free.

While Apple is following Amazon and Google in allowing users to stream music, Amazon and Google didn't lock down licensing deals with record labels before debuting their own cloud services.

There's still no word on when Apple's service will be available, or whether it will charge a fee. An announcement could come on June 6 at Apple's developers conference.