Judge tells Amazon and Apple to resolve Appstore trademark dispute before trial

The judge presiding over Apple’s (AAPL) trademark infringement lawsuit against Amazon (AMZN) has told both parties to resolve the issue prior to their scheduled court appearance set to take place later this year. Apple filed a complaint last year claiming that Amazon’s Appstore infringed upon on the company’s “App Store” trademark. Amazon the called the allegations baseless and argued that because the term is generic, Apple has no case. Earlier this month, the judge partially dismissed the case, ruling that Apple cannot bring a false advertising claim against Amazon.

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U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte on Monday ordered Apple and Amazon to engage in settlement talks to resolve their differences, AllThingsD reported. The discussions are scheduled for March 21st and will be attended by executives from both parties who will look to settle the case. Judge Laporte wrote in her order that “no participant in the settlement conference will be permitted to leave the settlement conference before it is concluded.”

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If settlement talks fail, the two companies are scheduled to meet in court on August 19th.

This article was originally published on BGR.com