Microsoft forces sites to remove apps from the Store because of Windows in the name
Microsoft appears to be taking action against apps in the Microsoft Store that bear the Windows name. Two German sites that have been using the name for years were asked last Saturday to rename or delete their app.
The administrator of the German site Dr. Windows received a letter from AppDetex on Saturday stating that the Windows app with its name infringes Microsoft’s trademark in the US. AppDetex would be authorized to handle infringement complaints on Microsoft’s behalf.
dr. Windows was therefore faced with the choice to delete its app or change its name. This should be done within one business day, otherwise Dr. Windows risk permanent removal from the store. The administrator states that Microsoft is within his rights with this, but he calls it “amusing” that there are now problems with the name, while the app has been in the store for six years.
“I wish Microsoft the best of luck in wiping all apps that bear Windows in the name in any form,” writes Dr. Windows. He has chosen to only offer the app in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and refuses to change the name.
The also German site Windows Area received the same letter last weekend about its app, which it has been offering under that name since September 2012. That site also chose to remove the app from the American store. “It would be a real shame for us if the Universal Windows App, which we spent months working on, disappears from the Store,” Windows Area said.
There are two things that stand out in the letter that the German sites received. First, the title is ‘Windows Store Content Infringement Complaint’, while the app store is now called Microsoft Store. In addition, the letter contains the passage ‘Tell us what you believe is infringing about the app: The app uses the trademark of Microsoft Corporation without authorization’, which seems to indicate that it appears to be an automatically generated letter based on a complaint. , which raises the question of whether that complaint comes from Microsoft itself.