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In a very forceful show of strength, Microsoft have started to turn away apps that have the term “Metro” in their naming.
Their application naming guide has been updated to reflect the following:
“Make sure your app name doesn’t include the word metro. Apps with a name that includes the word metro will fail certification and won’t be listed in the Windows Store.”
This will affect a lot of applications down the line.
It’s also interesting because as Long Zheng says:
What seems illogical to me is that if Microsoft was in a trademark dispute, there shouldn’t be any precedence for Microsoft to enforce naming rights by third-parties in an open market. In my understanding of copyright law, the trademark holder is the only one that should enforce its trademark by filing disputes.
It shows that Microsoft is taking this rollout of Windows 8 extremely seriously and will not take chances on any type of silly disputes in October.
Hard to see how and why they will stop third parties using the phrase.
My guess is that this action immunizes them from any lawsuits in the future as they can now show they have gone above and beyond to prevent use of the name.
Developing…