[Update: Sometime after 7:00 a.m. EST, the Amazon Appstore went live. Looks like Apple will have to go back to court and start specifying those unspecified damages it was seeking.]
Okay. It’s Tuesday morning, and according to the New York Times, Amazon is supposed to enter the mobile app business today with a splash — giving away a free copy of Angry Birds Rio for Google (GOOG) Android phones.
But as of 6:00 a.m. EST, the link the Times provided (amazon.com/appstore) wasn’t working, and it may never work if Apple (AAPL) has anything to say about it.
[Update: It’s working now.]
Last week, Apple sued Amazon in a California federal court, asking a judge to block Amazon from using the term “Appstore.” Three years ago, Apple applied for a trademark on its own “App Store,” an online software emporium that now offers more than 350,000 applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and has delivered more than 10 billion downloads.
“Consumers of mobile software downloads are likely to be confused as to whether Amazon’s mobile software download service is sponsored or approved by Apple,” Apple said in its complaint.
In January, Microsoft (MSFT) challenged Apple’s App Store trademark, arguing that the term “app store” is generic. Apple countered in court that “App Store” is no more generic than “Windows,” a trademark Microsoft has fought vigorously to defend — as, by law, any trademark holder must.
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Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped.