Following similar action against online retail giant Amazon, Apple has ordered the Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) to stop using the term 'App Store' when referring to its App Store Catalog and App Store Reports for developers.

Detailed via a cease and desist letter sent to WIP by Apple's lawyers, the company believes use of the term "improperly suggests to US consumers that numerous companies offer an App Store mobile download service".

That's a trait, Apple claims, exclusive to its "groundbreaking" iOS ecosystem.

What's in a name?

It's likely that the move against WIP ties in with Apple's wider attempts to secure the rights to the words 'app store' with the USPTO – a course of action that forced it to take legal action against Amazon following the launch of its Appstore for Android.

In response, Amazon – and, interestingly Microsoft – claimed that the term 'app store' is too generic to be held by one company, which forced Apple into the awkward position of arguing that consumers don't understand 'app store' to mean 'application store', but rather a service that relates exclusive to Apple.

In its defence, WIP also claims that Apple has no right to control the phrase, given it belongs to the industry as a whole.

"It is a fact that the world of mobile app distribution is highly fragmented and that not every mobile phone user has an iOS device," the organisation, which is behind hackathon jam The Muther, said in the post on its blog.

"Despite Apple's attempts through trademark to create the impression that it's the only game in town, it's not. Developers need resources such as these, and they've been very warmly received. Perhaps that's part of the problem."

The body also points to alleged efforts by Apple to block apps that compete with its own offerings on the App Store, and its move to block pay-per-install marketing system as further evidence of a lack of interest in the development community.

[source: WIP]