news and technology: Amazon

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Judge rejects Apple bid for injunction against Amazon (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. judge denied Apple Inc's attempt to quickly stop online retailer Amazon.com Inc from using the "App Store" name, according to a court document.

Apple, the maker of best-selling iPhones and iPad tablets, filed a trademark lawsuit saying that Amazon has improperly used Apple's App Store name to solicit software developers throughout the United States.

Apple also asked a federal judge in Oakland, Calif. for a preliminary injunction to stop Amazon from using the name, which Apple says is trademark protected. However, Amazon argued that the term is generic and therefore not protectable.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton did not agree that the term is purely generic, according to an order released on Wednesday. However Apple has not established "a likelihood of confusion" with Amazon's services to get an injunction, Hamilton wrote.

On Wednesday Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet referred to the company's prior statements, which said Apple asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will "confuse and mislead customers."

An Amazon representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

In an earlier ruling on Wednesday, Hamilton set a trial date for October 2012.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc v. Amazon.com Inc, 11-1327.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Amazon refuses to collect California sales tax, state claims it will send a bill (Yahoo! News)

The online sales giant goes head-to-head with the Sunshine State

One of the benefits of shopping with online megaretailers like Amazon is often being able to avoid pesky sales tax. The state of California is attempting to "correct" that issue, which it saw as a legal loophole, by introducing legislation requiring online retailers to comply with the state's sales tax laws. The movement was signed into law yesterday, meaning that as of today, Amazon should be required to collect sales tax on all purchases made from within the state — but it refuses to do so.

If a company has no physical presence in the state of sale, it's often not required to collect tax when someone from that state purchases an item online. Past Supreme Court cases have upheld this notion. Because of this, Amazon recently cut ties with all physical distributors in California, effectively killing any claim that the online giant physically operates within state lines.

Regardless of that, state officials in California say they expect Amazon to comply with the new law, but Amazon's legal team doesn't see things in quite the same light. Amazon VP of Global Public Policy Paul Misener stated, "This legislation is counterproductive and will not cause our retail business to collect sales tax for the state." But California is sticking by its guns and claims that if sales tax is not collected at the point of purchase, the state will receive a rather sizable bill at the end of the year in order to balance the books.

(Source)